Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go? • Hacker News Board

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#41

Post by xtreme » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:38 PM UTC

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #12

spada wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that turned down a $3b sale. staggering that this call was made.

For an application that... does what? Shares short-lived picture/video messages? Maybe I don't quite get Snapchat, but color me unimpressed.

I don't know if the offer was reasonable or not, so I am not going there. But the "value" of such start-ups are often their user-base, not the product or the technology itself. Can someone else implement a similar idea? Absolutely. Would they be able to get all these users? Probably not.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#42

Post by metaphorm » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

anybody remember tamagotchi? beanie babies? pogs?

snapchat is the pogs of 2013. its already 2014. clock is ticking.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#43

Post by BlackDeath3 » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

xtreme wrote: post #41

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For an application that... does what? Shares short-lived picture/video messages? Maybe I don't quite get Snapchat, but color me unimpressed.

I don't know if the offer was reasonable or not, so I am not going there. But the "value" of such start-ups are often their user-base, not the product or the technology itself. Can someone else implement a similar idea? Absolutely. Would they be able to get all these users? Probably not.

Oh. Of course.

That makes me sad :(

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#44

Post by spamizbad » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

001sky wrote: post #3

Where does media punditry get off on making absolutist calls for heads to "roll"? I mean, imaging if random non-experts had a journalist fired for every failed-prediction or embarrasingly wrong policy analysis penned in an op-ed? There would be no journalists left !

For a meritocracy to work there must be consequences for both good and bad actions.

A pundit's merit is judged by their page views; not by their correctness. Their salary is based off their readership. If their readership wants to be fed convenient lies that reenforce their world view that's their perogative.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#45

Post by nostromo » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:40 PM UTC

RokStdy wrote: post #35

001sky wrote: post #3

Where does media punditry get off on making absolutist calls for heads to "roll"? I mean, imaging if random non-experts had a journalist fired for every failed-prediction or embarrasingly wrong policy analysis penned in an op-ed? There would be no journalists left !

Um.. That's sort of their job? Why the outrage here? It's not like the story actually calls for Snapchat's CEO's head to really be severed. That might be offensive. I think the author's point is a good one. If CEO is really so obtuse he should go. If he is being coached to act this way then his coach should be fired[1]. Pretty straight forward business journalism. It's not like the business journalist went on a long…

On one hand you have a CEO that responded slowly to a fairly mild privacy exploit. On the other hand, he created an apparently billion+ dollar company almost overnight. So, I'm going to guess that SnapChat should keep its CEO.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#46

Post by twelvedigits » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:44 PM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #15

johnrob wrote: post #7

What's the big deal? In the age of surveillance, all data is public.

Even without surveillance, I have always assumed that if I am putting something on the Internet, it is public.

The majority of Snapchat's userbase is young, often in their teens, and most likely not an engineer, software developer, or technologist.

I highly doubt they think the same way.

I'd also caution against employing such a cavalier attitude toward your users if you're building something that isn't 100% for the tech crowd.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#47

Post by baldajan » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:45 PM UTC

Asking for a person's head every time a mistake is made isn't something a mature person would do. Maybe Dan Primack (the writer) should be fired and replaced by an "adult" that won't make those claims... Now doesn't that sound ridiculous?

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#48

Post by jkelsey » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:46 PM UTC

jimsilverman wrote: post #36

i'm shocked by the comments here. it was a massive and anticipated security flaw. the CEO's reaction was not to fix it, not to apologize, but to arrogantly lie about the severity of the threat. less than a week after the CEO deemed the attack theoretical, it happened. the CEO's reaction was not to fix it, not to apologize, but to offer an opt-out after the damage had been done. not sure why snapchat is getting a free…

I'm not attempting to defend Snapchat here, but it's probably because their primary user base is compromised of teenagers and college kids. I think it's fair to say that people don't value their privacy as much until they get older and experience the world for what it is.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#49

Post by adamsrog » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:46 PM UTC

Why is the author so focused on an apology? Does a forced apology really solve anything?

If I were a Snapchat user, I'd primarily be interested in what they're doing to prevent anything of the sort from happening in the future.

Re: Does Snapchat's CEO Need to Go?

#50

Post by smtddr » Fri, Jan 03, 2014, 9:47 PM UTC

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #39

ugexe wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't even do it good. It's easy to stalk your friends and see who they message the most and figure out when they do. It was just first.

I still feel like I'm missing something. This is what makes me despair about ever possibly being some sort of inventor/entrepreneur. While I was under the impression that cool new things are what people are after, what they're really interested in, apparently it's just... things like this.

You just never know what will catch on. I don't see what the big deal is with Angry birds, Candy Crush or that awful-looking mindcraft game... but here I sit, very wrong about my predictions and not having tens of thousands flowing into my bank account every month. I think what the public wants is something that's easy to pick up, addictive and naturally fits into their daily routine.

Maybe I should just go make this game - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is12anYx2Qs