Snapchat has revolutionised social media
phlow has gone a stage further
Reading an article today by Farhad Manjoo in the NY Times regarding how snapchat has revolutionised social media got me thinking and inspired a short Friday afternoon post here on Medium.
According to Farhad Manjoo, Snapchat’s reputation as a social network for kids (or as a way of sending each other dirty pics) has led to it being mistakenly ignored, particularly by those over the age of 25. However the popular photo-messaging and storytelling app looks like it’s set for a valuation in the region of $30 billion which according to the Times would make it one of the largest initial public offerings in years. In terms of daily users, Snapchat has become one of the most popular social networks in the world — even more so than it’s 140 character counterpart Twitter.
However Manjoo goes on to explain that he believes part of the reason the platform has become so popular is it’s authenticity gained by distancing itself from the data-targeted options and story curation by “personalisation algorithms” like many of it’s competitors. Instead opting to use more human based curation for Live Stories, news etc…
Snapchat’s authenticity filters down to it’s users with the platform less like a stage performance than other networks. People aren’t fishing for likes, follows or shares. They’re trying to be real — whether thats a good thing or not in some cases.
Everything is far more personal.
Manjoo, raises several point in the article and it is definitely worth a read, however these particular points above interest me as I feel phlow has a very similar view on the necessity of human involvement in content curation and it’s relevancy.
At phlow we aren’t trying to be Snapchat, we aren’t even trying to be Facebook or Instagram; but what we are trying to do is create a more personal online experience for image lovers.
I don’t want to see what my friend Joe had for his dinner, but at the same time I don’t want a computer trying to second guess me and show me stuff that is completely irrelevant to me.
Equally, I don’t want to see a photo because it is technically “good”. I want to see the photo that makes me think and has a deeper meaning to it — even if it is slightly out of focus or over exposed. As phlow CEO Carlo Nicora points out “Humans are far better at measuring the real quality of an image than a machine”.
My feelings are that phlow has actually gone a step further than snapchat.
Instead of an individual or small team of editors we have turned every user into an editor — crowd sourced relevancy and curation. The people that share your passions and interests, that like the same things you like, edit the content on your behalf… so the content delivered to you via phlow is relevant to you and the stuff you care about.
What are your thoughts on snapchat, do you use it and do you find it more “authentic” than other social media platforms?
Could competing social networks like Facebook or Twitter be improved by a more human involved curation process, or is it too late for them?
