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A Huge Redesign Is Coming To Snapchat (theverge.com)
One of the more interesting tidbits from today's earnings letter to Snap investors is the development of a new user-interface for Snapchat. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said: "One thing we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use, and our team has been working on responding to this feedback." He confirms that a redesigned, easier-to-use Snapchat is coming. The Verge reports: And it sounds like whatever's on the way is far bigger than just some minor user experience tweaks. Spiegel says that "there is a strong likelihood that the redesign of our application will be disruptive to our business in the short term, and we don't yet know how the behavior of our community will change when they begin to use our updated application." Rethinking the way Snapchat works could certainly open the app to a huge audience of new users. Spiegel is right in calling out the usability complaints; Snap had to include a manual for using Snapchat in its IPO filing, which is a good indicator that it's not the most intuitive software in the world. But as Spiegel warms, drastic changes could also alienate some users and undercut Snap's cool factor. If you've taken the time to learn every corner of the app and master its tricks, you get it. Now, all of that is likely going to change. The earnings letter didn't give a release date for the new, improved Snapchat. The company's third quarter earnings report also revealed $39.9 million in losses stemming from unsold Spectacles. The camera-equipped glasses accounted for about 9% of Snap's losses in the quarter.
That, and Facebook, are the 2 biggest memory hogs on my phone I wish I could delete because not only have I never used them, the odds of me ever using them approaches 0 as time moves toward infinity.
The people who like Snapchat already know how to use it. Kids don't WANT their parents to learn how to use it. And in general, people nearly always hate change in the short term, even if it's objectively an improvement. Of course, there's always the chance that the "improvements" will be anything but as well.
This has every potential to go very badly. I'll be impressed if Snapchat users don't raise holy hell about it, because that's almost the inevitable result of these big re-designs.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
"Meanwhile, in the land of people who care...."
If users report that it’s hard to use how can you say it’s not broken?
I got sick of the 30 odd MB updates every 3 days and the 200ish MB of space it took up.
And it kept complaining every time I opened it I had revoked its camera permissions. All I want to do is receive snaps, not send them.
Snapchat is hugely popular with young people, and I think one reason they use it is because their parents can't figure it out. Or can't fully. This lack of intuitiveness drives old people away. My kids would say that's a good thing.
A Huge Redesign Is Coming To Snapchat
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
What is an app other than its interface? The user cost of having users re-learn an app, is large. This is going to have to be amazing.
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"I ain't afraid of no ghost" - Ghostbusters
If you suffer any pain it's because you're holding them wrong.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I got bingo on "the redesign of our application will be disruptive."
I think someone should point out to them that you're not supposed to disrupt your own fucking business.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it