News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak. Parent comment

Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by askafriend on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @09:59PM (#17712621)
To add to this, there's also Nextdoor, Discord, YouTube, Telegram, Life360 etc depending on how you define a social network. I'm pretty sure all of these are growing significantly both in the US and abroad.

Not to mention all the Asian social networks that are growing like crazy.

My theory is that Snap just doesn't have enough differentiation either as a product or as an audience to be sustainable as an independent entity long term (caveat: Snap in today's form). I don't know how long they'll be able to retain their core unique demographic and most loyal users when the action is all happening on Instagram. I get the feeling it'll be one of those shifts that happens slowly at first, and then quickly - especially if the company makes major missteps (like the recent redesign fumble) or becomes too stagnant. However, I believe Snap still has enough time and money to change that trajectory with the right vision and leadership.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by krisroadruck on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @10:24PM (#17712738)
Genuine question... how is whatsapp a social website vs just a chat application? Perhaps I've missed something critical about it but the way I've used it and seen anyone else use it is just as a replacement for SMS
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by Vinnl on Wednesday August 08, 2018 @02:26AM (#17713605)
As someone who doesn't use WhatsApp in a country where everybody does: the primary use case appears to be group chat. If it was just a replacement for SMS, not having it would not be a problem - I could still text with people. However, I'm "missing out" on things because I can't be in some WhatsApp chat groups.

Hence the network.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by askafriend on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @11:06PM (#17712912)
Any proprietary communications platform meant primarily for communicating between humans can be referred to as a social network. It's a pretty broad definition in my mind.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by soziawa on Wednesday August 08, 2018 @01:01AM (#17713308)
So letters are a social network?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by askafriend on Wednesday August 08, 2018 @01:07AM (#17713330)
No but I guess you could argue that language is.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by drawnwren on Wednesday August 08, 2018 @07:50AM (#17715047)
The postal system seems like it would qualify.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak by YaxelPerez on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @10:36PM (#17712798)
It technically also has "stories"
[ Parent | on HN ]