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Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

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Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#81
post #30

I absolutely hate Facebook, but I think Snap is really getting 'social media' right. There's no political nonsense or advertising being shoved down my throat, just endless cat videos and memes from my friends the way it should be. When my friends post something, it's guaranteed I will see it. There are options for group chat and 'forum' style communication, but the core experience is intimate and private. They're doi…

This fundamental property of "show me only things from people I explicitly added, and show me everything they post (ideally in reverse chronological order)" is what many (myself included) seem to want from social media. Sadly, it seems to be directly at odds with what companies want, because social networks often start off with having that property and lose it as they need to make the investors happy. - Facebook -> h…

Instagram still only shows me posts from users I've followed. It's no longer in reverse chronological order as of about 18 months ago, which is unfortunate.

What I would really want for Instagram to allow me to select certain users to show their posts first. Facebook lets me do this.

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#83
post #79
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that "niche" is what you share with most people under 19 or so as of today. People are quick to write off Snapchat's popularity with young users as it being the hot new toy they will tire with, but I think it's a lot deeper than that. They see the mistakes of millennials and older with social media and want nothing to do with it (and are thus nowhere to be found on Facebook, yet still on Instagram because it…

It's not a niche. 40% of snapchat users are 25 and older and another 37% are 18-24 which makes 77% over 18: https://www.statista.com/statistics/326452/snapchat-age-grou...

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply the age group is the niche, nor actually did I mean to imply the value was niche either, hence the quotes. I typed the comment that way though because I think a large proportion of people over about 24 don't understand the value of Snapchat for various reasons, often beleiving the value is "niche".

I also put that cutoff at 19 for a reason based on my experience with others. I'm right on the border of millennial and whatever they decide comes after it. Most people my age used Facebook originally and evacuated gradually over the past 3-5 years. If you look at people 19 and under, they are barely to be found at all on Facebook since they would be aged 16-14 at the time of that evacuation, and thus have no need to evacuate if they never had an account they used in a significant manner.

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#84
post #30

I absolutely hate Facebook, but I think Snap is really getting 'social media' right. There's no political nonsense or advertising being shoved down my throat, just endless cat videos and memes from my friends the way it should be. When my friends post something, it's guaranteed I will see it. There are options for group chat and 'forum' style communication, but the core experience is intimate and private. They're doi…

This fundamental property of "show me only things from people I explicitly added, and show me everything they post (ideally in reverse chronological order)" is what many (myself included) seem to want from social media. Sadly, it seems to be directly at odds with what companies want, because social networks often start off with having that property and lose it as they need to make the investors happy. - Facebook -> h…

> This fundamental property of "show me only things from people I explicitly added, and show me everything they post (ideally in reverse chronological order)" is what many (myself included) seem to want from social media.

> Sadly, it seems to be directly at odds with what companies want

There is a companyless protocol for this exact functionality, RSS.

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#85
post #78
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that "niche" is what you share with most people under 19 or so as of today. People are quick to write off Snapchat's popularity with young users as it being the hot new toy they will tire with, but I think it's a lot deeper than that. They see the mistakes of millennials and older with social media and want nothing to do with it (and are thus nowhere to be found on Facebook, yet still on Instagram because it…

>> They see the mistakes of millennials and older with social media and want nothing to do with it (and are thus nowhere to be found on Facebook, yet still on Instagram because it hasn't suffered the same problems yet) I’d be interested to see data to support this assertion.

It's hard data to get because people still have Facebook accounts, they just don't post on them. In order to get that data, Facebook would have to release it by choice, and good luck with that one.

Do an experiment though. Look at all your friends around 17-18 (hard if you're older to get a good sample size, but find someone who has friends that age if possible). Now scroll through their walls and see when you hit 2016. I bet it's pretty quick in 75%+ cases.

I just did it on the few I have (siblings of college friends). One took 4 posts to get to 2015. Two of those were blocks of happy birthday posts grouped together. I know all of those people are very active on Instagram though.

Now if you can, look at people ages 23-25 or so. See how much more they post.

This is of course only data you can essentially get from being young and having access to friends in both ranges. But I see it time and time again.

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#86
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This fundamental property of "show me only things from people I explicitly added, and show me everything they post (ideally in reverse chronological order)" is what many (myself included) seem to want from social media. Sadly, it seems to be directly at odds with what companies want, because social networks often start off with having that property and lose it as they need to make the investors happy. - Facebook -> h…

> This fundamental property of "show me only things from people I explicitly added, and show me everything they post (ideally in reverse chronological order)" is what many (myself included) seem to want from social media. > Sadly, it seems to be directly at odds with what companies want There is a companyless protocol for this exact functionality, RSS.

True but sadly my friends do not post pictures of their babies and vacations through RSS :(

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#87
post #4

Snap users and advertisers have responded very positively to the clear division between user generated content and advertising. If you are not a Snap user, or if you haven't used it in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. Snap advertisers are mostly lifestyle brands that want to engage with their users in a new way. Tacobell isn't advertising on Snap, but Popular Mechanics is. When a user clicks on Popular Mechan…

Can you tell me how you get to see stuff from Popular Mechanics there? Whenever I inadvertently swipe over to the commercial section, it just shows me a bunch of useless plastic celebrities, often in little clothing.

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#89
post #61

As a member of 18~23yo age group ("young person"), I would say snaps the only social media I enjoy using besides HN/reddit. Most young people I know use Facebook for groups (local like a school or city), events , and chat. IMO Facebook is shooting all of these feet off with the algorithmic newsfeed and spinning off messenger. Snap however is used constantly to keep up with peers. Haven't met a single person that uses…

Snap never picked up in emerging markets like India. Instagram still dominates here. And most of the people I know regularly use Instagram stories

Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains

#90
post #29
post #4

Snap users and advertisers have responded very positively to the clear division between user generated content and advertising. If you are not a Snap user, or if you haven't used it in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. Snap advertisers are mostly lifestyle brands that want to engage with their users in a new way. Tacobell isn't advertising on Snap, but Popular Mechanics is. When a user clicks on Popular Mechan…

Why would I want to "engage" with "lifestyle brands"? Am I missing something here? What does that even mean?

Depends on what kind of content the lifestyle brand wants to pitch me.

I like weight lifting as a sport. I once saw a video from a popular fitness band that had a ton of advice on proper form and approach before a competition.

I got a lot of value from that and would happily give my time and money to a brand that does the same for other things I enjoy

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