Social Pivot Move

So you think with social media you can just truck along as long as your user base just loves to chat, right?

So social media upstart Snapchat has been fooling around with the semiprivate chat space with quirky photo/video filters we are all used to now. Well, little Snapchat grew up this weekend into Snap, Inc.

So the rebrand and no sign of the ghost in the company logo wasn’t the most interesting thing, it is their Twitter description below.

A camera company? I think that is the most interesting portion of this change in brand image. In fact take a look at this statement.

Reinventing the camera?! Is Snap the new Polaroid? Well, then the new Snap decided we needed these…

Spectacles as they are called are what we were looking for Google Glass to provide us, a simple video/still camera. Google got tripped up with augmented reality aspects that it just became too costly. Snap was perfect brand to tie the camera and glasses together.

Here is where Snap could really define itself. Does it enter into augmented reality where Google Glass failed? What will prevent other companies from coming out with their own glasses if they get popular? Good questions for Snap to continue their business, but for now you have to applaud them from taking a true step into the future.

Now for a pivot mid article, we stay in social media but look at a bit of a different move for a mainstay in the social media world. Twitter is in the midst of possibly getting bought out. We have rumors from Microsoft, Google and even Salesforce (which I agree with that author that would be a dumb idea). However we have one brand that would be the best from a strategic standpoint: Disney. Aside from the fact that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is on the board for Disney (hmm), but the only thing Disney needs help with right now is their ESPN subscriber base is dropping. How do you help that? A new outlet to showcase live TV. Thursday Night Football (TNF) is getting great viewership on Twitter, and it is just a stream along with collecting related tweets, nothing more. If Disney had control, you could see investment into specific commentators, unique coverage perhaps? NFL is a tough example as a few years back when the league started TNF, it was only carried on NFL Network (hoping to boost subscribers). Huge outcry to the point where they now have to simulcast on CBS along with the Twitter stream. That was around 2007 so fast forward about 10 years. With live sports streaming for ‘free’ becoming the standard, ESPN would be hit really hard, so why not buy up the source of an experimental portal?