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Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

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Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#101

Post by zach417 »

capkutay wrote: post #53
zach417 wrote: post #38

I don't understand how the existence of Snap adds over $30B of utility to the economy.

> I don't understand how the existence of [any company ever] adds over [their current valuation] of utility to the economy; furthermore, if [company] fell of the face of the earth, everyone would just switch to [their competitor], and life would resume ut fit. Peter Thiel's quote should be updated: We wanted flying cars, instead we got 1̶4̶0̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶r̶a̶c̶t̶e̶r̶s [trivialization of product's value]. These comments su…

I had removed the last part from the comment as to seem less trollish, so please forgive me for coming across as such. Anyway, since you asked, here is my formalized argument: (1) [falsifiable axiom] You cannot have meaningful economic growth without technological innovation. Technological innovation is improving the efficiency of existing resources or increasing the availability of resources as compared to previous eras (colloquially, "doing more with less"). (2) [falsifiable axiom] Historically, only the most valuable companies of a given era are technologically innovative. (3) [falsifiable axiom] Under the current valuation, Snap Inc. is currently one of the most valuable companies. (4) [falsifiable axiom] Snap Inc. is not technologically innovative. (5) [logical conclusion given axioms] Snap Inc. should not be valued as one of the most valuable companies of this era.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#102

Post by oxide »

pm90 wrote: post #92
oxide wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

once it hits the mainstream it isn't cool anymore, take Facebook for example. kids hate it now, because grandma, mom, dad and aunt marie all use it. when it comes to social media of any type, if your grandma is using it, you don't want to be using it, since it must be for old people. according to teenager logic, anyway.

Well to be completely fair, it is quite embarrassing even for me as an adult to have my parents/grandma looking at the stuff I post of facebook, which has caused me to reduce engagement there and post to instagram, which is restricted to close friends.

Agreed. I didn't mean to bust teenage chops so hard, haha.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#103

Post by [deleted] »

pm90 wrote: post #92
oxide wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

once it hits the mainstream it isn't cool anymore, take Facebook for example. kids hate it now, because grandma, mom, dad and aunt marie all use it. when it comes to social media of any type, if your grandma is using it, you don't want to be using it, since it must be for old people. according to teenager logic, anyway.

Well to be completely fair, it is quite embarrassing even for me as an adult to have my parents/grandma looking at the stuff I post of facebook, which has caused me to reduce engagement there and post to instagram, which is restricted to close friends.

[deleted]

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#104

Post by josu »

InternetUser wrote: post #49
linuxkerneldev wrote: post #34

This $27.8 billion dollar valuation tells me that somewhere along the line, my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society. I've never used Snap or their platform. I don't even really know what the benefit of their service. I am curious if I'm in the minority or if there's lots of developers like me who aren't able to comprehend these valuations.

> my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society Yeah, the 13-21-year-old chunk of society. Do you, as a Linux Kernel Developer, happen to be within that demographic? Even their IPO roadshow video (which I see has now been removed) talks about their "13-34-year-old" user base, and then emphasizes the far higher levels of engagement and far higher potential among the lower half of th…

"society" as in US population. Snapchat is also used outside of the US but it's not so prevalent.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#105

Post by jzymbaluk »

missing8 wrote: post #72
InternetUser wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society Yeah, the 13-21-year-old chunk of society. Do you, as a Linux Kernel Developer, happen to be within that demographic? Even their IPO roadshow video (which I see has now been removed) talks about their "13-34-year-old" user base, and then emphasizes the far higher levels of engagement and far higher potential among the lower half of th…

Sure the bulk of their users are young, but several of the people I follow are betweeen 28 and 45. It's not like Snapchat is an esoteric thing. Using it can be a function of how outgoing and expressive you are. Or if you have some purpose. The same reason you post on Hacker News is why people post on Snapchat -- to interact with others.

It also depends on whether you have friends that use Snapchat. I'm 24 and a college senior, so within the right age group, but none of my friends use Snapchat. It's only fun if you have friends who use it.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#106

Post by mwambua »

linuxkerneldev wrote: post #34

This $27.8 billion dollar valuation tells me that somewhere along the line, my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society. I've never used Snap or their platform. I don't even really know what the benefit of their service. I am curious if I'm in the minority or if there's lots of developers like me who aren't able to comprehend these valuations.

You're not alone. I'm 24 and only had it installed for a day or two before I gave up on it.

Maybe I'm the type of person who doesn't need a constant glimpse at other people's lives... or maybe I already had Facebook and Instagram for that. It's likely that the same inertia will help Snap hold onto its older user-base as it matures.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#107

Post by probe »

moolcool wrote: post #95
probe wrote: post #84

The SNAP thesis I like the best is - "Twitter-like growth with FB ARPU". The monetization potential of this company is massive (geofilters, sponsored content, hardware with spectacles, etc.) and there's no direct comp for that. Pokemon Go showed us the bleeding of digital to physical, and Snap has the potential to be the first company to unlock value from it (ex. geofilters). Plus you can view SNAP as a call option o…

>Pokemon Go showed us the bleeding of digital to physical It also showed how quickly a popular phenomenon can loose cultural relevance. >when something exciting happens, which app do you open first? One that doesn't automatically delete the photo I took of the exciting thing by default

I'd argue it was poor/slow execution that led Pokemon Go to lose cultural relevance. If they had introduced more pokemon, ability to trade/battle, etc. they would still be highly relevant and a behemoth today.

When I post to Stories I also post to "Memories" so everything is saved on the app. Plus I usually go back to snapchat and save pictures from my story manually if I want to have it saved locally. Most people I know do the same.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#108

Post by anonu »

probe wrote: post #84

The SNAP thesis I like the best is - "Twitter-like growth with FB ARPU". The monetization potential of this company is massive (geofilters, sponsored content, hardware with spectacles, etc.) and there's no direct comp for that. Pokemon Go showed us the bleeding of digital to physical, and Snap has the potential to be the first company to unlock value from it (ex. geofilters). Plus you can view SNAP as a call option o…

I like the thesis summary. Let's be honest WhatsApp "Status" is terrible. I've checked it daily since I got it on my phone and have only seen 1 person post on it. Instagram Stories is just OK. Snapchat has, so far, cornered the market in this particular "storytelling" niche.

There's also a more natural integration with how ads are injected into the experience. Snap works carefully with ad buyers to make sure that the ads are engaging and flow with the rest of the product. That's an important differentiator.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#110

Post by komali2 »

jmathai wrote: post #70
godzillabrennus wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are definitely not alone. The Snap product has been geared toward younger people as Facebook once positioned itself. Investors are betting that once the product and audience mature there will be huge payouts like they saw with Facebook. There is a big risk here though. Twitter has crashed and burned when compared to Facebook.

I think it's worth noting that Twitter essentially lost to Facebook. Facebook's dominance pigeonholed and limited what Twitter could evolve to. And I'm not sure there's room for more than a couple social networks. I don't see who SnapChat will lose to besides themselves (i.e. monetization). IMO Facebook/Instagram isn't well positioned win today's 13-25 demographic. The point is, someone will win. And right now I'm no…

Depending on your definition of social media, and if we count Asia, Weibo, Wechat, and Line are major contenders.
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