a) I don't understand it or see the appeal, then why do other people like it? b) I don't like it or see the appeal, but others do. Cool.
But much like acid, I feel like I wouldn't be able to engage with it everyday without weird things happening to my brain. I totally support people who use it, just personally I'm content with mostly experiencing it vicariously through other people.
It happens on a much lesser level with food, music, movies, etc - the reaction from a non-fan to a 15 year-old girl's declaration that she loves One Direction is not "ok I see why someone could like this music and why this tribal affiliation is both socially useful to a teenager" but rather
Snapchat is the technology version of One Direction for a lot of adults. But also remember many adults couldn't understand why teenage girls went crazy for The Beatles in 1964 either.
Instagram and Facebook are both close, but if something is happening there's a 5x better chance someone is going to Snap it than Insta it and 50x chance they'll Snap it than do anything with it on FB.
I'll be honest I'm not even sure why I'm posting this, but it was such a sudden movement - and everyone virtually the same time too - I wonder if anything's happened in the past 3-6 months to cause that
Snapchat on the other hand, most people won't know about it. However, I bet its drastically going to change in two years. Whatsapp is basically an SMS replacement - it lacks media rich features and as mobile internet speeds improve in India, people will gravitate towards apps such as Snapchat.
Empathy has nothing to do with it, most people who use computers are stupid or if they are smart have irrational traits. Our ancient primate brain is easily fooled.
Apple's ipod was not technically superior to competing MP3 players. Steve jobs was not a genius, he was just taking advantage of the fact that people are stupid and into fashion.
The same thing applies for most things, take the videogame industry. Anyone who knows how a computer works and is not irrational knows DRM and locked down games are bad for games, the enlightened rational minority is outnumbered by the irrational majority. So corruption, appearances, crap products and the superficial rule.
Also, most of the things that you've said are entirely subjective. You're stating your own opinions as fact, which most of us (me) would say is something a stupid, unempathetic person would do.
Most people realize that whatever they want to say to their friends is almost always unimportant and ultimately meaningless. This is how real life conversations work 99% of the time. When you post something to Facebook you're saying that whatever you have to say is important enough to put up on everybody's news feed and stay around forever. When you use Snapchat you're saying that whatever you have to say is worth a few seconds of your friends' time and then disappears forever.
It also plays against the slow realization by Millennials as they've grown up that everything they do on the Internet is permanent and they need to be careful about it. Snapchat let's you do whatever stupid shit you want as long as you trust the recipients to not save it and share it.
I think its a different mindset that says "I want everyone to see this" for what would otherwise be mundane things. I know I never have the urge to broadcast to my friends regular everyday stuff like sitting around or working, but a significant amount of people do. Not saying if that is good or bad, I think it's just different.
I feel like the people I talk to, I already talk to. Internet people are internet people - and I'd like them to approach my missives at their own pace. Not have an inspector-gadget like timer associated with the posts.
Does it also play on that basic human condition of not wanting to see options go away, so you frantically click through your friend's stories for fear of missing anything? I could imagine how that would get users hooked, but I wouldn't consider it a good thing.
While I "get" your point, I think it's a stretch in terms of what Snapchat offers that I can't get elsewhere with a better experience.
But then, I'm well over 20 and from the comments on this post, definitely not snapchat's market.
There’s no public view count, follower count, likes count, or any other social
dick-measuring contest. You can just put whatever you’re doing on Snapchat; if
people don’t like it, who gives a fuck, you’ll never know. There’s no
expectation of balling out 24/7.
Consequently, on Snapchat I’ll post to my daily Story almost twice as much as
I’ll post to Twitter and Facebook combined to reach only a fraction of the
number of people. The cost of content creation is extremely low, and Snapchat
makes it fun to think about what aspects of what I’m doing every day might be
cool for other people to see.
If you are someone who does not find the appeal in low-stakes interactions, then it's quite understandable that Snapchat may not appeal to you.
In all cases the limitation is rather arbitrary, and yet one of the primary defining aspects of each product. I don't think it's a stretch at all that the ephemeral nature of Snapchat is its main offering. I kind of wish more of my friends would use Snapchat, because I'm not always happy with the idea that everything I ever said to a friend via Facebook is stored and can be read and searched by them. And by Facebook.
The Japanese cherry blossoms are a bittersweet moment during the spring. People go flower-watching (花見) to admire the beauty and it is a happy time. But it is also a sad time, because it is only for a fleeting moment before the time has gone and another year must pass before you can see them bloom.
What makes them so special is that they do no last forever. If the cherry blossoms were in bloom year-round, they would not be any less beautiful - but I do not think they would see as much popularity. They would become commonplace and ignored.
Not everything needs to live on forever - and some things would "suffer" if they did.
>This kind of empathy with others will make you much more effective when you're creating for people who are not like you.
What you are describing is the action of gaining knowledge of other's likes/dislikes. This can be done entirely robotically i.e. completely without emotion. Knowing about others is only a part of empathy. The other part is actually exercising this emotion in your actions, choices, and interactions with other people.
I don't think not understanding snapchat (and not wanting to understand snapchat) is a display of a lack of empathy. There are many things that each of us choose not to spend time learning about. That is just a basic facet of life.
And, I find it extremely disingenuous to start blaming people of being "bad human beings" because they do not care to entertain themselves with a currently popular social application. Like really? Is this what we have lowered our discussion standards too?
This jump to appealing to some sort of moral high-ground to establish your point is logically fallacious at best. Especially when morality/ethics plays zero part in people's personal views/choices in regards to a topic e.g. this topic.
>make an effort to talk to people outside of your normal social circles once in a while.
You do realize that the majority of Snapchat's users are most likely using it to participate in THEIR social circles, right? To each their own. It's perfectly fine to NOT be in some social circles.
I am seriously amused that the top comment is an appeal to ethical standards in regards to people's personal opinions about an app. Very amused! :D
I also never said that the comment was saying that "everyone needs to use snapchat".
Maybe you should either address specific points made in someone else's comment or avoid being outright rude in an otherwise intellectual and civil discussion? Just a thought.
EDIT: I also would expect discussions on a site like this to not devolve to false dichotomies of either total agreement or total disagreement with someone else's position (comment).
If you read my comment carefully you will easily discern that my focus is on the lack of necessity for bringing an appeal to "empathy" into the discussion.
I don't see anyone appealing to a moral high-ground. You're the only one talking about ethics.
Let me distill the OP's comment for you: 1) A lot people seem to be complaining about Snapchat being confusing and saying there's something wrong with it, etc. 2) Yet Snapchat is extremely popular with certain groups. 3) If you want to understand why it's popular, try to understand the groups that are using it. 4) In general, that type of empathy (or the ability to understand and share another person's experiences and emotions) can be useful in helping you create things for other people who are dissimilar to you.
You're the only one talking about people being bad or good in relation to their understanding of Snapchat... unless comments have been edited or something.
And mgalka isn't saying you said it was stupid. He was paraphrasing the original argument, because he thought you didn't understand it. Bleh, this type of bickering is pointless, hence my troll suspicion.
Virtually all the comments are about how Snapchat confuses them and that there must be something seriously wrong with it. And yet the app is immensely popular. If you're one of those people, then Snapchat is not really made for you.
You might be able to understand why Snapchat is a beloved app by reading a report about what the millennials are up to these days but I encourage anyone dealing with this confusion to make an effort to talk to people outside of your normal social circles once in a while. This kind of empathy with others will make you much more effective when you're creating for people who are not like you.