News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by CryoLogic on Thursday November 16, 2017 @11:57PM (#15719046)
Snapchat.

But than again if we look at their finances (and stock), they have always been in the red and are resorting to selling glasses and hotdog costumes now (huge losses).

So maybe they aren't that successful after all.

Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by Al-Khwarizmi on Friday November 17, 2017 @04:32AM (#15720504)
Yes, that one totally got me as well...

An app whose only novel idea is that the messages and photos you send delete themselves after some time, except for the fact that once they're in your friend's phone, they can of course take a screencap, or just have an app installed to store them... so the whole idea is based on cluelessness about basic security... and yet, there it is.

Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by iEchoic on Friday November 17, 2017 @05:15AM (#15720714)
It's not based on cluelessness, people are aware that there are ways to circumvent the screenshot notification. The vast majority of people don't install third-party apps to save their friends' snaps, so content you share on Snapchat is still drastically less likely to be on someone's phone forever than if you were to send it some other way.
Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by BronSteeDiam on Friday November 17, 2017 @06:14AM (#15721021)
I was never about security. They use FOMO to create a daily habit. When you post, people see it and react quickly, which further strengthens the addiction.
Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by thatgerhard on Friday November 17, 2017 @01:47AM (#15719653)
snapchat's biggest problem is the interface, it's extremely hard to use. I think the plan was to make it complicated so that older people don't get into it, turns out nobody wants to struggle using a selfie app
Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by nemothekid on Friday November 17, 2017 @02:05AM (#15719763)
>turns out nobody wants to struggle using a selfie app

Tons of people use the app. The interface is central to its virality. Snap's growth wasn't a problem until Facebook did everything they could to clone it. Snaps failing because everyone is starting to realize that if you aren't GOOG or FB, you aren't worth spending $$$ on. Just the other day I saw an "OfferUp" ad on Snap that looked like a 90s banner ad. I can't tell if Snap went full self serve or if they are struggling to find people to buy on their platform. And who would after advertisers have been spoiled by FB's demographic data and GOOG's intent data?

Edit: I feel like I spend a lot of time defending snapchat when I hardly use the app.

Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by thatgerhard on Friday November 17, 2017 @03:13AM (#15720117)
IMHO even if facebook cloned all the functionality, if people found snapchat easier to use they wouldn't have jumped ship the moment it became an option.
Re:Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world... by Double_a_92 on Friday November 17, 2017 @02:02AM (#15719752)
I think that's on purpose. So friends have to show you the app first... It kinda creates a "lock-in" effect, like "I already bothered to learn this with my friends, why change now?"