I hope your idea is too small and doesn’t “fit:” for example. Voltron obsessed,mohawk having, and dog loving hiker. This is hyperbole, but small is good.
You have an opportunity to understand, before most people, the effects of the internet’s “shrinking” of the world.
Now that there is no distance(the internet) between someone who loves cabbage patch doll alterations in Indiana and in London, why would they talk to the motorbike enthusiast across the street?There aren’t that many Voltron obsessives dog lovers but when they connect they are going to love each other.
Trying to understand the impact.
Back when the internet was going to scale you had to reach critical mass for cultural impact, now you can do it with 1,000 people. That same group of Voltron loving hikers is going to talk, and each effect hits them way harder than a tiny change on Amazon.
Customer connection and service get relevant again.
The mission statement with corporate jargon and the telephone line to a robot aren’t going to work (and until AI passes the Turing test it won’t do either). Your story to that mohawk loving Voltron obsessives better means something or else they are going to take the dogs elsewhere.
My natural inclination was to stay away for social media
For most of my life, I thought social media apps were time sinks (or wastes of time), where when I engaged, I felt like I didn’t connect with my greatest moments. Even worse, the social media stuff was boring.
If you look at my Instagram before 2016, it’s horrific. There is a ton of emptiness, and the pictures that do exist are a horrible snap shot of my life. It is a mix of me trying “artistic” shots and wondering why the app existed – and then it becomes nothing.
If you looked at my other social media outlets, it’s more of the same. There is no consistency, there is no story. In fact, instead of me reaching out and trying to connect, most of my posts are me being someone I am not.
I don’t think Snapchat is for that. The value add that comes from Snapchat is impromptu connection.
It is connection, through the randomness of life. It is learning through doing. Snapchat wins for the content creator because it gives us a view on what you do, honestly, in bite sized chunks. The shortness of the snap, the chance that you might miss it, having double opt ins, all mean that you have to want the material, and you have to digest it.
This is the greatest move in gaining attention in the moment.
The best people I see using the service do so in a candid way. You put a piece of yourself out there, and it opens the door for honest conversation. It’s why when you answer a snap, you find the conversation going in a million places. You get more from adding and getting than you do from subtracting and synthesising.
So, if you want a service that builds on you talking about your day, about connecting with important work, about getting to know people, Snapchat is your deal. It is a place for real insight.
Find me there , @thehonorableAT, and be ready for a message. I love interacting, and talking back 🙂
From the desk of Adam Thomas 