Would you turn down $3 Billion Dollars? Seriously? Other than the founders of Snapchat, I can’t think of anyone else who would do such a thing so I had to find out what the story was.
What I found is something interesting. A social network where everything self destructs after 10 seconds…
1 – What is Shapchat?
It’s a social media network targeted towards teens and adults. Founded 2 years ago by Stanford university undergrads, it’s essentially a mobile phot0 and video sharing service. Apparently starting out as a sexting app, they quickly rebranded after people started using it to share all kinds of funny moments in their lives. As the demographic has gotten younger, and the app more popular, they even have a special version targeted to children under the age of 13 called SnapKidz (who are only allowed to access with permission from a parent or legal guardian and it has limited functionality).
How Do You Create an Account?
With your phone. You can download Snapchat from the Google Play (Android) or Apple AppStore marketplaces.
What is SnapKidz?
New users who enter a date of birth indicating that they are under 13 may be given access to “SnapKidz,” which does not include messaging capabilities or the collection or transmission of personal information.
2 – So How Does It Work?
Let’s say you have something interesting to share, and you want to share it with your friends. With Snapchat you have the ability to take pictures or record videos and share them with other Snapchat users.
Videos range from 1 to 10 seconds, and can both photos and videos can be viewable for a specified length of time (again up to 10 seconds) to the people they are shared to. The recipients of the clips see a pop-up in what essentially looks like an email inbox, where they can go to view them. Here are some graphics from The Globe and Mail that help explain things a little bit better.
And that’s about it. Like all the social networks, it is what you make it. I can think of all kinds of moments that I wouldn’t want shared at all, but if I could record them and share them with a select few, then have them disappear, well that is interesting.
Happy Marketing!
Dave Burnett
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