Snapchat creeps me out!

When I sat down to write this, I was going to examine how stupid my classmates look when they take selfies, most likely with Snapchat.  However my plan of action drastically changed when I looked up a little more info about this app "everyone" is using.

 

I had previously thought that people had sent pictures on Snapchat sort of like an IM system that exclusively focused on pictures.  However, when I went on Wikipedia (it's good enough for laymen, not scholars), I found out that the reason why I see everyone tapping and holding their new messages.  It's because that you can only read Snapchat messages when tapping and holding them.  Even *better* is the fact that once you open your new message, you only have 1-10 seconds to see it.  Then, it is "deleted."  (Actually, the software doesn't provide a way for users to ordinarily view past messages.  The exception is with tinkering with the code of the app or using an app emulator.)

 

Ok... Maybe I've been "living under a rock," so to say, since I don't have a smartphone.  Regardless of that, I still think that this self-deleting messaging service sounds like something out of a spy movie.

 

When I told my curious mom what I was writing about, she noted how the service would be excellent for terrorists to use, since the messages delete themselves in Snapchat.  (Apparently, my mom likes to point out security issues in technology that permits extremely communication.)  I pointed out to my mom that Snapchat servers (technically... yes, it's all very technical) save users' past 200 messages.  Despite this, I thought it would be harder for the federal government to investigate servers that really aren't dedicated to saving information, such as those for Facebook and Twitter.

 

So I'm pretty much scared about this app.  Well, this isn't one of those "WARNING" chain mails fallacies but I have my misgivings about this app.  Because the last memorable thing I remember about Snapchat before today is that some teen girl talking about how some weird guys she didn't know kept sending her their pictures.  If you asked me, those guys were probably sexual predators.

Instagram is a ripoff of Twitter... and now Vine

vs.

and

Because I'm a person who likes to think things in a technical way, I was pondering a while back about the concrete uses and purposes of several social media websites.  This happened after Instagram announced that its users can now upload 15 second videos with its famous filters in addition to its photo filter service.

Vine, at that time, was relatively new as an social app made by the parent company as Twitter.  It allows its users to upload 6 second videos.  (Supposedly, the reason why Vine's video length is so sort because it forces users to become creative with its time constraint.  Personally, I see more crap than anything on Vine.  You have better luck finding rare nuggets of creative tweets on Twitter than anything good on Vine.)

I also remember the time when Instagram cut off Twitter integration.  People can upload pictures onto Twitter but it's kind of difficult to do so because big pictures cut down on Twitter's already sparse 140 character limit.

With all the given information above in my head, I suddenly had an epiphany about social media:

(Essentially...)  Instagram is just a ripoff of Vine and (but more indirectly) Twitter.

Well, here's my thinking:

1. Instagram is basically Twitter.  If you remove the 140 character limit (or rather, miserliness of words), put more emphasis on the pictures, and more filters, you end up with Instagram.  (Really, it's that easy to figure out.)
2. Instagram essentially does what Vine does, which is making short videos.  Instagram added the short video feature that doesn't face the many kinks that Vine currently faces.  Some of Vine's issues include a lack of incentive to check the app itself on a very frequent and regular basis and the time constraint.  However because Instagram has such a popular and high user volume with only a photo based platform, it only makes sense for Instagram to implement "moving pictures" (AKA video).  In addition, Instagram has made their videos with a limit of 15 seconds.  This solves the solution that Vine currently faces with its 6 second videos.  Many people complain about the time limit on Vine, unlike the positive reception of Twitter's 140 character tweet limit.

While Instagram faces its own problems for being a social network exclusive to mobile devices (you can't upload anything onto Instagram from a computer), Instagram still remains extremely strong.  Despite Instagram clearly ripping off other popular social media platforms, Instagram still remains a strong social app.  Instagram is definitely one of the top 20 US social networks.  I guess this shows that sometimes you don't have to think too hard when innovating and making popular products or commodities.  "Innovation" may be as little as changing a few features of an existing and famous social network to make another one that could be just as popular.
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Update (7/13/2013):  I haven't seen many Instagram videos but I found a good one by Gabifresh.