I was teaching a lesson on cryptography to a bunch of twelve year olds this morning, and with reference to https, I asked how many had used Facebook before school - no hands, how about Instagram - no hands, how about Snapchat - half the class put their hands up. It's definitely the most popular network amongst teens in my (UK) school.
I'm about the same age as the poster and he's captured my age groups' experience of social media, including Snapchat, perfectly. Snapchat really is that big a deal.
It's not uncommon for journalists to cultivate relationships with insider sources. In this case, Snapchat has a history of thinking very deeply about the future of social media: for example, one of their earliest and most influential hires is a sociologist and social media theorist.
This is filled with gems that old farts like me (I'm 30) don't have any idea about.
If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it.
Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting. Simple but critically different in my opinion.
Facebook is often used by us mainly for its group functionality.
Got it, so make a better group service and bring everyone to that.
One big thing I took away is that, assuming this is representative of the demographic, they seem to not mind using multiple applications for communications. So there really is the ability to pretty narrowly specialize with functions - something I think the older generation does backwards; we want to consolidate and make services a "one stop shop."
it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting
Yes that's what lives pretty strong in that generation - and on social media in general, I have the impression.
For some that goes really far, maybe too far, and people become unhappy or even depressed if they are not seen/approved by others.
Which is like in real life, but also at the same time not quite: in real life conversations etc you show a lot of yourself because it's impossible to hide. Facial expressions, body language, meeting pople early in the morning when you're not at your best, on one of those days where the whole world is against you, and so on. In virtual life however you try to make sure that side of you doesn't show. You could call it a lie. I'm not sure if that is good, bad or neither.
I'm older than you and I definitely don't want a one stop shop.
Currently I use Facebook to see photos of my extended family, LinkedIn for work & sales, Instagram to keep up with my cooler friends, Twitter to see trending news, StockTwits to see investing ideas...
To me this is the future of social networking: many networks, each with a specialized purpose.
Facebook is not popular for groups because it does it so well, it's used for grouping because you can safely assume that 98% of your classmates have a Facebook account, know hoe to use it and even check it occasionally.
>> If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it.
> Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to
Just an idea: This is a single individual; basically anecdata. I have a sister who is 44 years old and who does the same thing and has been doing it as long as she's been on the internet (she started by blogging and has deleted hundreds of posts in the same way, in addition to her current FB, Instagram, etc. posts). I do wonder if this could be reduced to psychological typology or self-image though.
> "it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting"
Which is generally how the average westerner has behaved for generations. They don't acquire and desire clothes, music, books, movies, ideas, hair-styles and gadgets solely based on best personal fit. They acquire and desire based -- very heavily -- on the opinions of those tribes they admire.
(And while teenagers and young-adults are far more susceptible to this sort of "fashion", older folks are far from immune to it.)
I'm 40. Shocking I know. But to all those who think this is just ancient (the younger they are the older that seems) I have only one response: There's nothing you can do to avoid the same fate! Except a premature death, but that would be even worse, right? Hahaha. Anyway.
I have a 21 year old friend, this is how she's using Facebook:
- Accept all friends requests. There are lots because she's cute.
- Go through the feed relatively often, liking every single post.
- Post stuff, see who likes it. Those friends who don't like her posts are unfriended.
Needless to say, she gets a lot of likes on her posts. It's absurd to do this, of course, but at the same time it's just taking what normal people do, and taking it to its logical extreme.
I am guessing if the Facebook engineers responsible for optimizing the news feed saw this they'd have a heart attack.
>Got it, so make a better group service and bring everyone to that.
You are going to need significant value-add to convince people to bootstrap their identities and social graph all over again. Snapchat did it by piggybacking on "people who have each other's phone numbers." Tumblr did it by not doing it - the social network is deliberately separate, and you have to be much closer to someone for them to tell you their Tumblr URL.
I will never use your service if I have to sign up, confirm my email address, add friends, convince them to sign up and actually check it, etc. Decentralization is the surest way to destroy user experience. Facebook already knows me and everyone I know in real life. Why would I not just use it?
Posting, liking, and commenting are pretty much the only means of interaction on Facebook. (Besides messages, but that's a different thing.) And since there's no "dislike" button, if you get no likes, then you don't know if people really hated it, or thought you were weird for posting it. Removing it is the easiest way to make sure you're not alienating your friends.
It's not necessarily approval, but trying to start a conversation. If something gets no response after a while, it means nobody wants to talk about it so you might as well delete it.
"but to get people's approval for what they are posting"
The business reason for multi-billion dollar social media companies is for brands and celebrities to get "likes". The only social sites that don't operate that way, are one dude in his basement sites, not billion dollar sites, where all the useful content is anyway.
Anyway, that business reason is going to rub off on all the participants. IBM isn't going to post everything, they're going to post likable stuff. No surprise IBMs followers have similar habits.
Most infuriating thing about Facebook is that the group admin tools are just really, really shit. And it's very difficult to admin an active or, God forbid, controversial group without just being a fascist about it. I'm not saying that increasing social drama to increase page views was a design goal, but it does seem to be the result.
These are mostly phone apps, so to launch the app that wants their attention, they just click the notification. Doesn't matter much at all which app, or where the icon is on their screen, since it's just the one place that launches everything.
> it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting.
I don't think it's as simple as "please like me/please approve of this" but there's also a component of "Oh, you don't like this -- I won't bother anyone else with it, sorry about that!"
many have nailed this on the head. It’s dead to us.
The next few paragraphs then go on to describe Facebook as essential social plumbing. I think an FB product manager would be delighted to hear that Facebook is "dead" in this way.
This is precisely why the most successful social network of its generation was built, first and foremost, to be a platform rather than a cocktail party.
I don't have an account for any of these, and I don't want one. I have, let's see, HN, GitHub, and Stack Exchange. Those accounts are my online identity, which I make sure is separate from my real identity. If you want to contact me, you can email me, or if you know me in real life, you can text me. I don't feel smug about not having those accounts, but I'm not embarrassed either. Maybe it's just because I don't socialize with the "normal" people my age, or something else, but more people than you might expect understand when I say I don't have an account. I don't want them because they would be more of a time suck than the Internet already is, and no one really has trouble finding me.
>In short, many have nailed this on the head. It’s dead to us. Facebook is something we all got in middle school because it was cool but now is seen as an awkward family dinner party we can't really leave.
What?
>Snapchat is where we can really be ourselves while being attached to our social identity. Without the constant social pressure of a follower count or Facebook friends, I am not constantly having these random people shoved in front of me. Instead, Snapchat is a somewhat intimate network of friends who I don't care if they see me at a party having fun.
I use snapchat to send funny images of myself to my girlfriend
>WhatsApp- You download it when you go abroad, you use it there for a bit before going back to iMessage and Facebook Messenger, you delete it. I know tons of people who use it to communicate with friends they made abroad, but I feel like Messenger is beginning to overshadow it. For international students, however, WhatsApp is a pivotal tool that I’ve heard is truly useful.
Back here we use WhatsApp exclusively almost, fb messenger when we must
>Tumblr is like a secret society that everyone is in, but no one talks about. Tumblr is where you are your true self and surround yourself (through who you follow) with people who have similar interests.
To me, tumblr is a place where hipsters post images from the internet, back on the internet
>> Snapchat is where we can really be ourselves while being attached to our social identity. Without the constant social pressure of a follower count or Facebook friends, I am not constantly having these random people shoved in front of me. Instead, Snapchat is a somewhat intimate network of friends who I don't care if they see me at a party having fun.
> I use snapchat to send funny images of myself to my girlfriend
The first paragraph was a long, flowery quote from the "about us" page of a failed wine delivery service that went on and on about how they delivered only the finest wines hand-wrapped in crisp white napkins by elite French sommeliers, etc.
The second paragraph, his commentary, was: "I chug wine."
WhatsApp has far fewer users in North America than every other region of the world. It's not surprising that an American teenager studying at an American college would have no use for it.
>>In short, many have nailed this on the head. It’s dead to us. Facebook is something we all got in middle school because it was cool but now is seen as an awkward family dinner party we can't really leave.
>What?
The author is talking about how their grandma is on fb now and on their friendlist. They don't feel as comfortable posting certain content there.
If I could break down a party for you in social media terms, here’s how it would pan out:
* On Snapchat, you post you getting ready for the party, going to the party, having fun at the party, the end of the party, and the morning after the party.
* On Facebook you post the cute, posed pictures you took with your friends at the party with a few candids (definitely no alcohol in these photos).
* On Instagram you pick the cutest one of the bunch to post to your network.
I said it then and I'll say it now, FB screwed up when they pivoted to copy Twitter. FB was fun when it was more private. Zuck should've realised that once there was a critical mass of news reports of teens getting in trouble for stupid FB and Twitter posts, teens would dump the service.
I didn't really get it at all either, until I followed people relevant to my interests. Now I can't live without it - it's an amazing source of material.
Not sure if that translates to industries outside of tech or not.
It's both a source of learning and revenue. Having an audience on twitter literally™ makes me money on eBook sales and other things I do. It's a great place for "organic targeted marketing", so to speak.
Piggybacking off bcRIPster (now down voted) post, I'd be curious to know the race of the teen author and if the preferences he observed are the same across others with different ethnic and racial background. Among my 30-something and 40-something circle I've noticed that most of my white and Asian friends tend to utilize Facebook more while most of my black friends tend to use Twitter more. Instagram seems more evenly split.
What I find interesting is the stark contrast to people's predictions from years ago. I can recall the speculation about how in a world of facebook our lives will be documented forever, and the problems that will cause. That very real concern seems to not only have been well received, but they seem to be taking precautions. Unexpected, but very encouraging!
> In this part Facebook shines- groups do not have the same complicated algorithms behind them that the Newsfeed does. It is very easy to just see the new information posted on the group without having to sift through tons of posts and advertising you don't really care about.
That part resonates with me, and I'm not young. I was an early Facebook user (2003-2004 when I was a college freshman) way before the news feed existed, and way before it starting "algorithmically" filtering and sorting. I've always hated it.
The content on Instagram is usually a higher quality. People take time to edit their photos with filters, different brightness/contrast settings, etc. ... This means the content on Instagram is normally “better” (photo-wise)
That's the OP's personal experience of course, mine is sort of the opposite: facebook has all sorts of crappy pictures, instagram has those as well but made even worse by having applied all kinds of filters most of which appeal ugly to me. Tumblr on the other hand I consider as a source for decent/pro material (as in, actually beautiful pictures taken with proper cameras). Maybe all this is because of who I'm following though.
For another single data point I asked my 15 year old son a few months back about what social media platforms he uses and was rather surprised to have him answer "Facebook is for old people" - which probably means over 20.
Really interesting views on people disliking but still using Facebook. I was walking around my college's campus a few years ago and overheard a girl saying "well, he doesn't have a facebook, so thats kind of a huge red flag to me. I dont think I'm going to keep talking to him"
Funny what an animal social media has become...
Okay, I'm 22, that's not much older than this guy. I know a lot of 18 and 19 year olds. How does it look to me?
Facebook: most people use this primarily, but about 1 in 5 people does not because they object to pervasive surveillance/got frustrated by the newsfeed reordering/dislike Zuckerburg personally/are just asocial. Facebook Messenger is the main way of communicating with people who have it. You also use it to communicate with people who don't have Facebook Messenger by the indirection of using Facebook Messenger to talk to someone who might have their phone number.
Instagram: I know a total of maybe two people that use this at all, and they have their content copying to Facebook which is where most people see it I think.
Twitter: Not a lot of people use this, with the curious exception of the Facebook objectors, who mostly use this.
Snapchat: I know a few people who use Snapchat but I don't think anyone takes it seriously. Of course that's kind of the point. General assumption is that snapchat users are trading dickpics and just not sharing with the rest of us.
Tumblr: A lot of people are tumblr users but in sort of a "guilty pleasure" way, you don't discuss it with people you're trying to win the respect of. Perception is that it's mostly [furry]porn and SJWs. Admittedly this is roughly correct.
Yik Yak: Took the campus by storm. Most people use it exclusively to either complain about faculty, ineffectively try to find a date, or to make fun of the former two. Openly mocked, but in the way that makes other people install the app just to see what's being joked about, so I guess that's a social strategy.
Medium: Maybe a handful of CS majors even know what it is.
Yeah, I go to a small engineering school and my social group is primarily in CS. I'm sure this impacts my experience a lot. This is exactly my point: I think social media/application/etc usage is far too specific to social groups, institutions, and even geographical areas for it to be remotely useful to work off of anecdotes. Here Facebook is absolutely king, but I can imagine a "trendier" population (not Engineering students) might have a certain ire for it. I think Instagram isn't widely used just for lack of having achieved critical mass in this particular student body, there may (and probably will) come a day when that changes.
This is probably part of why "what teens are into" reporting seems so ridiculous. It's based on a shallow look at one group of people, and behavior varies far too much between groups. Broad statistical data would be far more useful for marketing purposes, but the results would still ring hollow for many specific peer groups.
Not surprised insta isn't popular among your engineering group. It's like twitter but for photos.. it's very visual-based. a lot of artists and celebs are on it.
also seems to be the home of pretty girls posting selfies and getting validation from that.
it's like a cooler, more upscale version of facebook. Insta is hugely popular from what I'm seeing
"Facebook is dead to us but we use it for X,Y, and Z." I found this kinda funny. Obviously it's not dead to you if you use it for a variety of purposes. Seems like friends I have with teenage kids are mostly on Facebook. Now it may not be their primary outlet. But "dead" seems to be a bit of an exaggeration.
I wonder if the teens who favour Instagram and Snapchat today will nevertheless age into people who get more out of Facebook as they get older.
When you're young, most of the people you know and think about are still right there around you and you see them almost every day. You haven't left too many people behind yet. But that changes quickly over time and an increasing proportion of the people you know and care about, the ones you met at a particular place and time in your life, are no longer close by. Being able to keep in touch with those people's comings and goings and relationships and family lives to the (relative) depth afforded by Facebook probably becomes more attractive and more valuable.
So although Facebook may be losing its original stomping ground to simpler, more targeted alternatives, perhaps both Facebook and its active user base are maturing together.
> I only know a handful of people (myself included) that believe Snapchat does delete your photos. Everyone else I know believes that Snapchat has some secret database somewhere with all of your photos on it.
It takes a special kind of stupid to even consider the idea that the photos are _really_ deleted.
[+] [-] themodelplumber|11 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/546018511902867456
> Can't wait to visit my friends at @Snapchat again tomorrow :D
https://twitter.com/thatswattsup/status/545326840940740608
> Loved hanging out with @evanspiegel yesterday, he's one of the nicest and more genuine guys I've met. Thanks for having me @Snapchat!
...influencer? Hope not :(
[+] [-] MarcScott|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonreem|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] applecore|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] austenallred|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nashequilibrium|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nikster|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AndrewKemendo|11 years ago|reply
If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it.
Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to get people's approval for what they are posting. Simple but critically different in my opinion.
Facebook is often used by us mainly for its group functionality.
Got it, so make a better group service and bring everyone to that.
One big thing I took away is that, assuming this is representative of the demographic, they seem to not mind using multiple applications for communications. So there really is the ability to pretty narrowly specialize with functions - something I think the older generation does backwards; we want to consolidate and make services a "one stop shop."
[+] [-] stinos|11 years ago|reply
Yes that's what lives pretty strong in that generation - and on social media in general, I have the impression. For some that goes really far, maybe too far, and people become unhappy or even depressed if they are not seen/approved by others.
Which is like in real life, but also at the same time not quite: in real life conversations etc you show a lot of yourself because it's impossible to hide. Facial expressions, body language, meeting pople early in the morning when you're not at your best, on one of those days where the whole world is against you, and so on. In virtual life however you try to make sure that side of you doesn't show. You could call it a lie. I'm not sure if that is good, bad or neither.
[+] [-] nostromo|11 years ago|reply
Currently I use Facebook to see photos of my extended family, LinkedIn for work & sales, Instagram to keep up with my cooler friends, Twitter to see trending news, StockTwits to see investing ideas...
To me this is the future of social networking: many networks, each with a specialized purpose.
[+] [-] ahussain|11 years ago|reply
I think you might struggle to 'bring everyone over' to a better group service. Part of the draw of facebook is that is everyone is already 'over'.
[+] [-] cvburgess|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] themodelplumber|11 years ago|reply
> Super interesting take - it's as though they are posting not to show people stuff but to
Just an idea: This is a single individual; basically anecdata. I have a sister who is 44 years old and who does the same thing and has been doing it as long as she's been on the internet (she started by blogging and has deleted hundreds of posts in the same way, in addition to her current FB, Instagram, etc. posts). I do wonder if this could be reduced to psychological typology or self-image though.
[+] [-] roc|11 years ago|reply
Which is generally how the average westerner has behaved for generations. They don't acquire and desire clothes, music, books, movies, ideas, hair-styles and gadgets solely based on best personal fit. They acquire and desire based -- very heavily -- on the opinions of those tribes they admire.
(And while teenagers and young-adults are far more susceptible to this sort of "fashion", older folks are far from immune to it.)
[+] [-] nikster|11 years ago|reply
I have a 21 year old friend, this is how she's using Facebook:
- Accept all friends requests. There are lots because she's cute. - Go through the feed relatively often, liking every single post. - Post stuff, see who likes it. Those friends who don't like her posts are unfriended.
Needless to say, she gets a lot of likes on her posts. It's absurd to do this, of course, but at the same time it's just taking what normal people do, and taking it to its logical extreme.
I am guessing if the Facebook engineers responsible for optimizing the news feed saw this they'd have a heart attack.
[+] [-] superuser2|11 years ago|reply
You are going to need significant value-add to convince people to bootstrap their identities and social graph all over again. Snapchat did it by piggybacking on "people who have each other's phone numbers." Tumblr did it by not doing it - the social network is deliberately separate, and you have to be much closer to someone for them to tell you their Tumblr URL.
I will never use your service if I have to sign up, confirm my email address, add friends, convince them to sign up and actually check it, etc. Decentralization is the surest way to destroy user experience. Facebook already knows me and everyone I know in real life. Why would I not just use it?
[+] [-] dominic2|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daigoba66|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sp332|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mahyarm|11 years ago|reply
Otherwise it feels like talking to a wall.
[+] [-] jpatokal|11 years ago|reply
https://plus.google.com/communities
[+] [-] VLM|11 years ago|reply
The business reason for multi-billion dollar social media companies is for brands and celebrities to get "likes". The only social sites that don't operate that way, are one dude in his basement sites, not billion dollar sites, where all the useful content is anyway.
Anyway, that business reason is going to rub off on all the participants. IBM isn't going to post everything, they're going to post likable stuff. No surprise IBMs followers have similar habits.
[+] [-] mbesto|11 years ago|reply
Here's my longer form take on it: http://www.techdisruptive.com/2014/05/01/vanity-sells/
[+] [-] davidgerard|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fargolime|11 years ago|reply
Email? Works like a charm for my friends, and no vendor lock-in.
[+] [-] jmsdnns|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] erroneousfunk|11 years ago|reply
I don't think it's as simple as "please like me/please approve of this" but there's also a component of "Oh, you don't like this -- I won't bother anyone else with it, sorry about that!"
[+] [-] bgun|11 years ago|reply
The next few paragraphs then go on to describe Facebook as essential social plumbing. I think an FB product manager would be delighted to hear that Facebook is "dead" in this way.
This is precisely why the most successful social network of its generation was built, first and foremost, to be a platform rather than a cocktail party.
[+] [-] 0942v8653|11 years ago|reply
I don't have an account for any of these, and I don't want one. I have, let's see, HN, GitHub, and Stack Exchange. Those accounts are my online identity, which I make sure is separate from my real identity. If you want to contact me, you can email me, or if you know me in real life, you can text me. I don't feel smug about not having those accounts, but I'm not embarrassed either. Maybe it's just because I don't socialize with the "normal" people my age, or something else, but more people than you might expect understand when I say I don't have an account. I don't want them because they would be more of a time suck than the Internet already is, and no one really has trouble finding me.
[+] [-] Rainymood|11 years ago|reply
>In short, many have nailed this on the head. It’s dead to us. Facebook is something we all got in middle school because it was cool but now is seen as an awkward family dinner party we can't really leave.
What?
>Snapchat is where we can really be ourselves while being attached to our social identity. Without the constant social pressure of a follower count or Facebook friends, I am not constantly having these random people shoved in front of me. Instead, Snapchat is a somewhat intimate network of friends who I don't care if they see me at a party having fun.
I use snapchat to send funny images of myself to my girlfriend
>WhatsApp- You download it when you go abroad, you use it there for a bit before going back to iMessage and Facebook Messenger, you delete it. I know tons of people who use it to communicate with friends they made abroad, but I feel like Messenger is beginning to overshadow it. For international students, however, WhatsApp is a pivotal tool that I’ve heard is truly useful.
Back here we use WhatsApp exclusively almost, fb messenger when we must
>Tumblr is like a secret society that everyone is in, but no one talks about. Tumblr is where you are your true self and surround yourself (through who you follow) with people who have similar interests.
To me, tumblr is a place where hipsters post images from the internet, back on the internet
edit: added location, might be very relevant
[+] [-] smacktoward|11 years ago|reply
> I use snapchat to send funny images of myself to my girlfriend
This exchange reminds me of a page from Phil Kaplan's excellent book of failures from the first dot-com boom (http://www.amazon.com/Fd-Companies-Spectacular-Dot-com-Flame...)
The first paragraph was a long, flowery quote from the "about us" page of a failed wine delivery service that went on and on about how they delivered only the finest wines hand-wrapped in crisp white napkins by elite French sommeliers, etc.
The second paragraph, his commentary, was: "I chug wine."
[+] [-] dublinben|11 years ago|reply
http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24497/whatsapp-by-...
[+] [-] dethstar|11 years ago|reply
>What?
The author is talking about how their grandma is on fb now and on their friendlist. They don't feel as comfortable posting certain content there.
[+] [-] jinushaun|11 years ago|reply
If I could break down a party for you in social media terms, here’s how it would pan out:
* On Snapchat, you post you getting ready for the party, going to the party, having fun at the party, the end of the party, and the morning after the party.
* On Facebook you post the cute, posed pictures you took with your friends at the party with a few candids (definitely no alcohol in these photos).
* On Instagram you pick the cutest one of the bunch to post to your network.
I said it then and I'll say it now, FB screwed up when they pivoted to copy Twitter. FB was fun when it was more private. Zuck should've realised that once there was a critical mass of news reports of teens getting in trouble for stupid FB and Twitter posts, teens would dump the service.
[+] [-] hugs|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fideloper|11 years ago|reply
I didn't really get it at all either, until I followed people relevant to my interests. Now I can't live without it - it's an amazing source of material.
Not sure if that translates to industries outside of tech or not. It's both a source of learning and revenue. Having an audience on twitter literally™ makes me money on eBook sales and other things I do. It's a great place for "organic targeted marketing", so to speak.
[+] [-] Anechoic|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swalsh|11 years ago|reply
What I find interesting is the stark contrast to people's predictions from years ago. I can recall the speculation about how in a world of facebook our lives will be documented forever, and the problems that will cause. That very real concern seems to not only have been well received, but they seem to be taking precautions. Unexpected, but very encouraging!
[+] [-] daigoba66|11 years ago|reply
That part resonates with me, and I'm not young. I was an early Facebook user (2003-2004 when I was a college freshman) way before the news feed existed, and way before it starting "algorithmically" filtering and sorting. I've always hated it.
[+] [-] stinos|11 years ago|reply
That's the OP's personal experience of course, mine is sort of the opposite: facebook has all sorts of crappy pictures, instagram has those as well but made even worse by having applied all kinds of filters most of which appeal ugly to me. Tumblr on the other hand I consider as a source for decent/pro material (as in, actually beautiful pictures taken with proper cameras). Maybe all this is because of who I'm following though.
[+] [-] arethuza|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scottmwinters|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] balls187|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jcrawfordor|11 years ago|reply
Facebook: most people use this primarily, but about 1 in 5 people does not because they object to pervasive surveillance/got frustrated by the newsfeed reordering/dislike Zuckerburg personally/are just asocial. Facebook Messenger is the main way of communicating with people who have it. You also use it to communicate with people who don't have Facebook Messenger by the indirection of using Facebook Messenger to talk to someone who might have their phone number. Instagram: I know a total of maybe two people that use this at all, and they have their content copying to Facebook which is where most people see it I think. Twitter: Not a lot of people use this, with the curious exception of the Facebook objectors, who mostly use this. Snapchat: I know a few people who use Snapchat but I don't think anyone takes it seriously. Of course that's kind of the point. General assumption is that snapchat users are trading dickpics and just not sharing with the rest of us. Tumblr: A lot of people are tumblr users but in sort of a "guilty pleasure" way, you don't discuss it with people you're trying to win the respect of. Perception is that it's mostly [furry]porn and SJWs. Admittedly this is roughly correct. Yik Yak: Took the campus by storm. Most people use it exclusively to either complain about faculty, ineffectively try to find a date, or to make fun of the former two. Openly mocked, but in the way that makes other people install the app just to see what's being joked about, so I guess that's a social strategy. Medium: Maybe a handful of CS majors even know what it is.
Yeah, I go to a small engineering school and my social group is primarily in CS. I'm sure this impacts my experience a lot. This is exactly my point: I think social media/application/etc usage is far too specific to social groups, institutions, and even geographical areas for it to be remotely useful to work off of anecdotes. Here Facebook is absolutely king, but I can imagine a "trendier" population (not Engineering students) might have a certain ire for it. I think Instagram isn't widely used just for lack of having achieved critical mass in this particular student body, there may (and probably will) come a day when that changes.
This is probably part of why "what teens are into" reporting seems so ridiculous. It's based on a shallow look at one group of people, and behavior varies far too much between groups. Broad statistical data would be far more useful for marketing purposes, but the results would still ring hollow for many specific peer groups.
[+] [-] intellegacy|11 years ago|reply
also seems to be the home of pretty girls posting selfies and getting validation from that.
it's like a cooler, more upscale version of facebook. Insta is hugely popular from what I'm seeing
[+] [-] efa|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] experimentsin|11 years ago|reply
When you're young, most of the people you know and think about are still right there around you and you see them almost every day. You haven't left too many people behind yet. But that changes quickly over time and an increasing proportion of the people you know and care about, the ones you met at a particular place and time in your life, are no longer close by. Being able to keep in touch with those people's comings and goings and relationships and family lives to the (relative) depth afforded by Facebook probably becomes more attractive and more valuable.
So although Facebook may be losing its original stomping ground to simpler, more targeted alternatives, perhaps both Facebook and its active user base are maturing together.
[+] [-] simbilou|11 years ago|reply
It takes a special kind of stupid to even consider the idea that the photos are _really_ deleted.
[+] [-] bluedino|11 years ago|reply