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Introducing the new Snapchat

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Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#161
They still haven't moved to the `newer` (not new anymore. been here for 3yrs now) permission modals on Android. The moment I hit the Install button on Google Play it prompts me to give blanket access to 11 different APIs. No way I'm gonna let them have it.

Every app that I have on my Android device has been updated to this granular permission modal and for Facebook I manually turned off permissions after they started using the Storage permission to access my camera roll to display a carousel of photos that I've taken recently on my timeline.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#162
post #35

Teenagers, and for that matter, everyone yearns for smaller private spaces where they can share whatever they want with their closest friends — without any reservations of judgement from their parents, grandmas or uncles. I used to love Instagram, until Facebook decided to make it Facebook v2 by making my entire "friend" list follow me there as well. That means that until I invest a lot of time hiding my story from e…

The best advice is to not put anything into electronic form that you wouldn't want your everyone you know (along with prosecuting attorneys) to read about in detail in the newspaper. Facebook may promise something is private, but all it takes is the smallest software bug and their promises are ashes.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#163
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snapchat takes beautiful photos on iOS. Some people I know even prefer to use it to the native camera. I wonder why this is different for Android? Does anyone have an insight here?

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing the call to capture a screenshot is restricted by Apple, forcing them to do it the 'correct' way.

Saving a view to an image on iOS is a few lines of code. They could save the view to an image if they were so inclined.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#164

Evan of Snapchat talks about “performing for your friends” as a strange “side effect” of Snapchat. But the instinct to perform is native to the Snapchat medium. I think this is a problem. I went to a concert a few weeks ago. The people beside me would stand still for 10 minutes and then someone would pull out Snapchat. The whole group would turn around, flash a smile and start dancing for the camera. 9 seconds later,…

Snapchat is inherently ephemeral - nothing lasts for more than 24 hours. Compare that to instagram/FB where the feed lives forever. The concept of stories does give people some freedom in sharing things a bit more spontaneous. In addition, they don't have a like button or comments. The only "metric" is people who "viewed" your story. The difference was stark when I first used Snapchat. I believe things have changed now. More people have moved to instagram stories and Snapchat is a lot more "filtered" than it used to be.

IMHO I think they tried to make people share spontaneously instead of a curated feed. Instagram and FB forced a change.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>what about regular pictures? They’re supposed to take candid moments of the real world I'm not sure that is an accurate representation of photography as a medium, nor has it ever been.

I profoundly disagree, documentary photography is as ever-present and ever-useful as it has been.

What proportion of photographs are taken with that intent?

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#166

Evan of Snapchat talks about “performing for your friends” as a strange “side effect” of Snapchat. But the instinct to perform is native to the Snapchat medium. I think this is a problem. I went to a concert a few weeks ago. The people beside me would stand still for 10 minutes and then someone would pull out Snapchat. The whole group would turn around, flash a smile and start dancing for the camera. 9 seconds later,…

I don’t know, isn’t this the same as all social media? I remember reading something along the lines that playing golf is posted on Facebook twice as much as doing the dishes, yet people spend 5x more time doing the dishes. And if we step back from social media, what about regular pictures? They’re supposed to take candid moments of the real world, but even if we’re having a bad day, we smile and act happy for picture…

> playing golf is posted on Facebook twice as much as doing the dishes, yet people spend 5x more time doing the dishes.

That would be by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz in this NYT article.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/opinion/sunday/dont-let-f...

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those concert-goers felt the need to misrepresent their experience of the concert. I felt the same sense of misrepresentation browsing Instagram recently, where the photo no longer represents the experience, but rather it is the experience (if one can call a posed and doctored product an experience). One problem with this is the behavioral reinforcement it creates. If dopamine is released enough times when a certai…

I think HN is quick to overlook the potential positives of this dynamic, so I'll play devil's advocate here. Maybe the Instagram experience is how people actually want to behave? And it gives them a chance to express that ideal self. In other words, it's like the phone is a magic wand, and when it's pointed at them, it's suddenly socially-acceptable to break out of their shell and act silly. Obviously it's weird that…

I can sort of acquiesce here, due to me being a data point of one applying a theory to a userbase of millions.

But since they likely spend more time as one version of themselves - when no camera is pointed at them - and less time as the on-camera version, I'd argue that the latter is less authentic.

It's a bit like using alcohol (ie, the camera) as a crutch to give yourself permission to loosen up in social situations. It gets the job done but I'd argue it's not authentic.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised that you've never seen this behavior. Just go to the nearest nightclub on the weekends and find a group that's doing a bachelorette party or birthday party or something. I see it ALL the time.

Then, promptly find that one nightclub in your city that forbids photos and video... you hopefully have one, and its probably a better time. :)

I've lived in many major cities around the world (and have done enough partying to confidently say) I haven't seen one nightclub that forbids taking photos. That would be stupid.

I've seen a couple of bars where they ban it, but not in nightclubs, especially high end ones. It's too hectic to "ban" something there, and the more exclusive the place is, the more likely the visitors want to instagram their visits, the better marketing it is for the club, therefore they allow it.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#169

Evan of Snapchat talks about “performing for your friends” as a strange “side effect” of Snapchat. But the instinct to perform is native to the Snapchat medium. I think this is a problem. I went to a concert a few weeks ago. The people beside me would stand still for 10 minutes and then someone would pull out Snapchat. The whole group would turn around, flash a smile and start dancing for the camera. 9 seconds later,…

Thank you for sharing your perspective, it has described what I have been unable to articulate for quite some time now.

Re: Introducing the new Snapchat

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a near daily snapchat user, and someone who has developed an Android app that use's the camera, I prefer it this way. I'm not using SnapChat to take super high quality pictures, but to share moments quickly. The WYSIWYG works well for that, and a lot of Android devices are super slow to take pictures. Dealing with Camera 1 vs Camera 2 Android APIs, and device specific issues is a mess, I don't blame them for takin…

Taking the easy route was OK when they were a scrappy startup, but now that they are a multi-billion public company, I honestly don't see why they can't hire a couple of qualified Android devs to fix this.

Doesn't Instagram use the same approach on their Stories Camera on Android? Seems more of an issue with Android Camera performance/APIs than an engineering critique.
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