Snapchat

Why I choose Snapchat?

• It is not a young app but popular among the young generation. I am interested in knowing what kind of things will be attracted by youth. Also, as a consumer application, it is not widely accepted like Facebook in the world. I am interested to know the reason.

Note: From the research, it was relaunched as Snapchat in September 2011. Now it is 2020.

I captured some questions from Julie Zhuo — how to do a Product Critique.

How did this app come to your attention?

• I got to know this app from two scenarios. First, one day in class, a classmate introduces the newspaper in Snapchat. Second, one day in the TA tutor, he wants to draw something to explain some concepts. Under the situation without any paper and pen, he used the drawing tools from Snapchat. Both of these guys are over 22, therefore, it is a little conflict towards the description that Snapchat is popular below the age of 16.

What is your first impression?

• The app icon is yellow with the ghost. The ghost is just a simple stroke black outline. The yellow color is high saturation which can make me feel young and bright. The ghost is not weird instead the rounded head makes me feel cute and the behavior of the ghost is more vivid like dancing in front of a mirror.
• The first understanding of Snapchat — why it emerges is that in today’s society, long attention is rare. People have the less whole time. Therefore, our attention is split into small parts, for example, when we are waiting for a latte in Starbucks, during the break between two classes. This time is only for 5 minutes. However, during this time, we need something to pass or consume a boring time, we need some bright attention. That is the reason why short video is bursting these days.

Use one line to summary Snapchat

• before: a short video sharing app that makes your life fun
• after: a short existed video/picture social application that makes you different.

Useful Function

• share Snapcode to other persons is so easy to add friends. I think it is a convenient function.

Snapchat — share the moment vs. TikTok — make your day.

• “ Share your story every day. ” — This is the advertisement that Snapchat mentions.
• I can see the feature or functions that TikTok emphasis is in accordance with my argument — make you stand out and make you different as I mentioned before. I think this is probably the function of the short video. It is not only about recording your moment or your day or even your life. The fun or the reason why users need it is that it makes you different. Not think differently but look different.
• In design perspective, TikTok is better than Snapchat. TikTok will know the design support product. On the contrary, Snapchat will think design help product. However, in this kind of apps, we should allocate room for users to show themselves, not product show their design. That is the major difference between Snapchat and TikTok.

Retrospect

• Try to find the meaning of existing in an unmeaningful way. This is the thing I conclude from Snapchat. We can treat it as a pop culture just like pop songs. I think the difference between Facebook and Snapchat is huge. That is why it cannot be accepted in a wide range of ages and around the world. Facebook is aiming at connecting people. We can get much value from connecting people. We do not need to be different on Facebook. We just want to learn from others, get information from others and know the recent status of others. It emphasizes on the value of connection and upgrades the information transmission. On the contrary, Snapchat is a group of person making fun in the platform. Entertainment is the key issue.
• I just felt the advertisement industry will change according to the short video busting. In the old days, the advertisement is one to many relationships and also with a short 1 or 2-minute video. However, now we saw the advertisement is one to one relationship and also the content will not be that standard — it can even be someone using some products.
• I decided my next analysis will be TikTok — make your day. I am interested to know the difference between TikTok and Snapchat.

Reference:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapchat