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People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

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Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#41
post #2

As an Indian, it bothers me how sensitive, insecure, and thin skinned India is as a country. Every time someone makes a comment on something controversial, or makes a joke on India millions of armchair warriors will get their pride hurt and be up in arms boycotting and protesting it on facebook, reddit, etc. (sometimes there are real life protests too). It's so silly really. On the contrary, countries like the US, Au…

I think it's a great example of the market working. These people are willing to change their behavior and put their proverbial and literal money where their mouth is.

If more people were willing to do this, "vote with your dollars" would transform from an ideal that might work in theory to a vehicle of effectual influence on the market.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#43
It is amazing what mob mentality can do on the web these days. Regardless of the authenticity of the news, I saw the number of reviews for Snapchat on the iOS store go from around 4000 to ~60K! That to me is terrifying.

A faceless mob can ruin your business if one "social influencer" chooses to.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snapchat is down to 1 star in spain too. Apparently, they care.

When I first heard about this story, I thought that "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. (If you think Spain's poor, I hope you never witness the heartbreaking poverty of Taiwan and South Korea, its rough peers by GDP-per-capita.) But I can certainly see how it was a lot less funny in Spain itself...

> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week.

I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe.

> PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5] During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first heard about this story, I thought that "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. (If you think Spain's poor, I hope you never witness the heartbreaking poverty of Taiwan and South Korea, its rough peers by GDP-per-capita.) But I can certainly see how it was a lot less funny in Spain itself...

> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe. > PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5]…

Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago?

And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#46
post #43

It is amazing what mob mentality can do on the web these days. Regardless of the authenticity of the news, I saw the number of reviews for Snapchat on the iOS store go from around 4000 to ~60K! That to me is terrifying. A faceless mob can ruin your business if one "social influencer" chooses to.

This is what worries me. And I do hope app stores start protecting apps against these organised campaigns. In this case, even a simple CAPTCHA would've worked since people who aren't tech savvy were following step-by-step instructions on how to rate apps. An additional step would've easily thrown people off.

It wouldn't surprise me if companies began leaking news stories that would trigger fiery reactions against competitors. For e.g. Facebook could keep Snapchat from ever expanding in India if it were to covertly portray Snap/Evan as disrespectful towards Indians. Social media influencers could profit from providing back-channel services to corporates.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe. > PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5]…

Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.

> Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago?

If you'd like to explain why you took offense to my comment, please do. I'd like to foster discussion where people do not take personal offense to my words on a message board when I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'd legitimately appreciate any feedback you have.

> And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe;

I'm not talking about objective reality, but about popular public perception.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#48
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India is a third-world country, there's no doubt about that whatsoever. And we are weirdly nationalistic, or at least there's a vocal minority who are overly nationalistic. But making fun of the other things you mentioned is really just making fun of poor people. I have hard time seeing the funny side of it.

Most of the things I've mentioned are part of Indian culture, at least the way it's shown to the rest of the world. Or are you going to tell me cows being sacred has anything to do with being poor?

Cows being sacred is no more funny than God killing his son to forgive humanity for the crime of some couple in ancient history eating an apple.

Religions are weird. If you find some funny but not the others, you probably have blinkers on.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe. > PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5]…

Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.

> Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS?

N≥1; I couldn't have said what it was.

Re: People in India are angry at Snapchat but they are boycotting a wrong app

#50
post #36

I find it somewhat amusing that anyone would even consider snapchat being for "rich people". I've never used it myself, but I get the impression it is just a kids app, and not a particularly interesting one at that. Perhaps they make their money from boring, bratty rich kids.

Not so much "rich people" as "people in countries with a high wealth baseline , where even kids with no jobs have smartphones and data plans for no useful reason."

> even kids with no jobs have smartphones and data plans for no useful reason.

There are plenty of reasons to have a smartphone regardless of age or employment. If nothing else, messaging apps are an important part of socialization.

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