Snapchat Memories and 7 other major social network shake-ups
When tech disrupts its roots, from Instagram’s square to Twitter’s 140
“Grooooan, Twitter switched from stars to hearts.”
“Ewwwww, Airbnb changed its logo.”
“GTFO, Apple is killing the headphone jack?!”
Every time a tech company makes a change, users explode with fury. Then they move on. Circle of life.
In particular, as social media becomes the default diversion in our lives (the average American now devotes 10 hours to screen time each day), we’re primed to pounce at every pivot.
On Wednesday, Snapchat announced Memories, a feature that saves photos and videos over time into a searchable database in the app. Users can save the files by theme, such as “honeymoon” or “basketball finals,” or add past Memories to their current Stories.
The irony in Snapchat’s move is that its original pitch promised a completely ephemeral experience. Founder Evan Spiegel billed the app (then named Picaboo) to Stanford classmates. They scoffed at the idea of short-lived photos and video. But as Snapchat gained momentum, users hailed the experience for promoting social media authenticity.
With Memories, that authenticity will be tested. Snapchat is marketing the feature as a kind of combination between Camera Roll and Instagram — it’s your choice whether to make content public or keep it private. Either way it’s more permanent.
As the app rolls out Memories this month, we’ll see how users explore its functionality. Snapchat is famously responsive to user behavior and creativity, but this new tool risks complicating an app that first pitched itself as damn simple.
Facebook says, “You can sit with us.”
Which brings us to Facebook. Although it’s The Social Network, people struggle to define what the platform’s purpose actually is. At its launch in 2004, The Facebook restricted membership to Harvard students, later rolling out the service to Ivy League schools, other universities, towns, and eventually the world. Particularly when it introduced News Feed in 2006, Facebook effectively eliminated exclusivity. Now, rather than having to navigate to a friend’s profile, a user could view a summary of their entire network’s activity on the homepage. More recent products like Facebook Live have expanded the network’s reach, suggesting users broadcast more publicly than ever before.
Instagram’s square dance
Now a Facebook property, Instagram created social media mayhem in August 2015 when it no longer limited photos to a square frame. Now users can crop and zoom from portrait to landscape, hamburger to hot dog. Though a risk—because Instagram’s square initially set it apart from other photo apps—pivoting its signature offering signaled Instagram’s domination of the photo sharing space.
Twitter’s limitations
Twitter hasn’t benefitted from great fortune in recent months. In its struggle to monetize and grow Twitter’s user base, CEO and founder Jack Dorsey has purged the company’s leadership and pushed several new products, including Moments and GIF integration — to mixed success. But what continues to set Twitter apart (even as it finds ways to mimic Facebook, e.g. Top Tweets) is its 140-character limit. Originally conceived in 2006 as a “social SMS” or “microblogging” platform, Twitter’s evolution has continued to value short snippets of information. Every time it toys with that character limit, users get nervous. However, tweets evolved to permit URL shortening, multiple photos, and 140-second videos; as of May 2016 neither links nor attachments count toward the limit. It’s a subtle but crucial pivot users actually welcome. Just don’t remove the limit entirely.
Pinterest is like a prettier Google
Pinterest is the quiet darling of social media. As such, its big shift may have gone unnoticed. Pinterest entered the social media space in 2008 intending to create a social platform to share photos from around the web. Turns out, users wanted to socialize less and hoard more. They used the site as a bookmarking and inspiration service, pinning DIY projects and kitchen remodels to virtual to-do lists, a.k.a. Boards. So in 2014 Pinterest bolstered the site’s discovery tools — it’s considered one of the only social networks where users go to actively search content, rather than passively scroll through a feed. The site reported 100 million active monthly users in September 2015.
Don’t forget us! *desperate screaming*
Those are the biggies, but several other niche or audience-specific social networks have overhauled their offerings, too. A giant before Facebook, Myspace made a last-ditch effort to stay relevant in 2013 by relaunching as a network for music fans under new co-owner Justin Timberlake. (It hasn’t helped.) Tumblr users collectively freaked when Yahoo bought the youthful, artistic blogging network in 2013 (It didn’t change much, so far.) Finally, in 2014 local checkin app Foursquare split its offerings into two apps: Foursquare became a local, Yelp-like rating app, and new app Swarm allows users to share their locations. (I don’t know a single person who uses either.)
Meanwhile, giants like YouTube and Tinder haven’t changed much — yet. Despite calls for vertical video tools and better discovery, YouTube has rebelled against major shifts. And Tinder doesn’t have to; it created a (brutally judgmental) swipe model that many other networks have stolen and adopted as their own.
Give it some time and perhaps users will learn to love Snapchat Memories, too. Though one could argue the company is trying too hard to be like Instagram, it’s doubtful the new feature will dent Snapchat’s breakout success.
When your mom gets an account, that’s another story. Literally, that’s another Snapchat Story. (Sorry.)
