Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
Snapchat’s design is a long term play. A good one.
This post follows on the last:
The Secret: Why Snapchat’s Design Will Make It the Most Popular in the Long Run
As discussed, Facebook and Instagram is all about permanence and mass exposure of content. The human reflex to this is to upload superficial, glorified content deflecting vulnerability: to negative comments, emoticons, and negative associations from not receiving a large number of likes. Rather than upload authentic content showing our vulnerabilities loved by our few most meaningful relationships, we upload content easily “liked” by a large number of people.
That content on FB and Insta is materialistic. Anything more becomes more specific to certain people: our more serious relationships. The problem is, more than just our serious relationships are exposed to our content on Facebook and Instagram. We have many friends; the friend count is shown publicly and there is a desire to seem more popular by having more. Everyone gets exposed to our content because the design of Facebook and Instagram put content on a podium for everyone to see. Knowing our content will be seen by so many, we don’t upload the authentic content we’d share with a few closer friends. In its place, materialistic content for the masses.
The materialistic content fits with the culture. What I’m trying to suggest is the culture is a response to the design of Facebook and Instagram.
To the mass exposure central to it. And permanence.
Your content will not disappear after 24 hours. It will be shown to all your friends on the News Feed. Because of this, culturally it’s not appropriate to upload authentic content showing your vulnerabilities, showing your inner self. Like a weird sense of humor. This content is most rewarding to share. It strengthens relationships, makes you feel better, whole.
This sharing happens within our most meaningful relationships. Otherwise we may seem to lack the meaningful relationships to share our inner selves intimately with, commoditizing ourselves.
And when we share authentic content with everyone on FB and Insta, we expose our inner selves to public invalidation, and when it’s invalidated, it is particularly painful. So instead we upload materialized glorified content for the masses. Any invalidation, like not getting enough likes, is not to you as a person but to a front you’ve put up. Inner self remains safe.
With materialistic content cultures, we have upward comparison we wouldn’t have with more authentic content cultures, people sharing their vulnerabilities. When on FB and Insta, we’re isolated, lonely, looking at others’ best material selves. Psychological consequences are published in academic papers, referenced in past posts.
As more is understood, engagement may shift. To Snapchat. People will price in the consequences of peer comparison from materialistic content cultures on FB and Insta. This content culture is created from the exposure and permanence designed into their systems. Snapchat deflects these consequences better. The momentary transience of the content, and the more private, exclusive sharing, privileged by the design, mean less permanence and exposure. Less exposure, less vulnerability, more authenticity.
Now I’ll get into other things.
Less exposure on Snapchat leads to a greater volume of more authentic content shared. What does this mean? More, better data to make advertising more targeted. Through inferences made about you by computer vision (for images) and natural language processing (for private messages). Snapchat may be better psychologically, and it may be able to sell more expensive ads.
With more content shared on Snapchat, more inferences can be made about each user, which advertisers can use to target users more granularly, users likely more receptive to the product or service in the ad. And with more authentic content shared, those inferences made will be more accurate. More data, more rich, to inform advertising. Once computer vision picks up.
And then more ads themselves can be sold. With more content shared and consumed. As people price in costs of FB and Insta. So each unit could be more expensive from targeting, and Snapchat can sell more units. More, more expensive ads.
Subtle things shape how this all unfolds.
Because of the content culture created from the design, use of Snapchat could be better for people psychologically, and be good for business too.
I will say that Stories are no good. Mass exposure, more permanence (content lasting one day rather than a few moments). People not comfortable sharing vulnerabilities. More materialized romanticized content. Upward comparison when consuming that content. Because of Stories I don’t support Snapchat as a whole, but I still think the content culture can be better. Some of the other gamification it does for more use, it’s also better without- for people at least.. in the long run for Snapchat.
After receiving many requests, I will be releasing long form writing on all of the topics covered in this blog. Add your email here to be notified when it’s released and get access to the signed early copies.
Snapchat’s Design: The Great Long Term Play was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.