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Link: https://www.recode.net/2018/3/27/17170552/snapchat-api-data-sharing-facebook
Summary: Snapchat has begun working on a way to connect Snapchat with other apps in order to "personalize" its service. This is pretty much exactly why Facebook is under fire right now. This will allow Snapchat to, like Facebook, sell its users' information to third parties.
Analysis: I think this is no surprise given how Snapchat has already gotten in trouble for not deleting images off their database. Also, this is pretty much one of the only ways they can make money. No way are they hosting this service for free. They have to have a source of revenue, and nowadays, it seems popular to sell private information. Snapchat has already been criticized for their recent update that many were displeased with, on top of the Rihanna scandal.
Questions:
Do you think people will begin moving off of Snapchat given this piece of news? Or will business go on as usual?
What do you think about future aspiring politicians being blackmailed with their embarrassing Snaps they took as a teen?
12 comments:
I don't think that this news will effect the quantity of snapchat users overall. The majority of snapchat users are young people that don't seem very concerned with their privacy. I think that many young users will disregard this threat to their privacy and continue to use snapchat exactly the way that they were using it before. As for the older contingency, I think that there will be a decrease of uses to a higher degree than that of younger users. I know however, things will change dramatically if there is sure fire proof that snapchat is saving messages sent between users because people will know that none of their information is secret anymore and that they have no real privacy anymore, and the things that they've been sending can be used in the future to hurt their reputation or careers. The whole point of snapchat originally was to have a messaging platform that could prevent blackmail, and ensure that people that aren't intended to see the message don't, and if that is taken away then users will find something else that will ensure that.
"The majority of snapchat users are young people that don't seem very concerned with their privacy " Um, I gotta disagree. I'm a young person, and I care a lot about my privacy. I think we've all done stuff that's illegal, questionable, or just plain embarrassing (not to call anyone out). Speaking personally, I'm not about to go ahead and broadcast that to all my followers. And the fact that I'm one of those aspiring future politicians makes the prospect of snapchat saving supposedly deleted untraceable posts terrifying for me.
Snapchat filled a void that Instagram and Facebook couldn't-they could eliminate direct messages between people. If someone saved or screenshot that message, the other person would know about it. There was a sense of mutual trust between Person A, Person B, and Snapchat. But now that Snapchat is a public company with shareholders, they need to come up with a more lucrative source of cash flow-so they turned to the traditional data sharing business model of social media businesses.
That can't happen-at least, not without Snapchat turning completely away from what made it so great in the first place. It has a choice to make-lose revenue and shareholder confidence, or abandon their values and perhaps condemn future doctors, lawyers, professors, and politicians to public humiliation. They've truly backed themselves into a corner.
I don't use snapchat at all, so I don't need to worry at all. However, this invasion of privacy should not be seen as a surprise at all. Social media companies want profit, and they get this profit by doing both ethical and unethical actions. Social media is a huge part of people's, especially teenager's lives, and if there is no good substitute for this social media application, then they will keep with the app no matter how bad it is. The creators of Snapchat probably believe the idea that Snapchat is so big among the public that it has a very low chance of failure. I think that this idea is somewhat right. Snapchat is so big that I see people use that to text people instead of texting through the messenger app. It's a huge part of their lives, and these people probably will be averse to using Snapchat at first but will come back to it once the backlash dies down.
While I sympathize with and share Granger's concerns regarding privacy, there is currently no good replacement for Snapchat so I think people will continue to use it until there is a huge scandal, because there has not been any huge incident yet so people still think it's safe.
I would have to agree with Giorgio in that this news won't stop people from using Snapchat. As long as Snapchat doesn't change any of its fundamental mechanics that make Snapchat so popular, nobody will move on to other apps. However if they really are selling private information about people to other third parties, I don't think that's very ethical, they should either not sell user information or give a percentage of the money they make from it to the rightful user.
I doubt that this news will lessen the quantity of snapchat users overall. A lot of people who join snapchat look at it as a social media platform and are aware of the issues with privacy and so forth. Similarly, facebook isn't snapchat, Just because it didn't work for facebook, that doesn't mean snapchat will go off the rails with this. If somehow snapchat breaches our trust and reveals sharing people's private information with the world, then it could hurt their reputation. I'm sure in this case people will start to delete the app, but it seems like snapchat is taking over social media and will continue to do so. As for the scandal regarding future aspiring politicians being blackmailed with their embarrassing Snaps they took as a teen, it is unfortunate, but nowadays if you screenshot anything people will be notified that you did so. At least that's the case for snapchat. If something happens that completely derails the user trust of the snapchat community, people will just start to lean to other social media platforms. It's not rocket science. We are in a technology driven world so stuff works itself out.
I completely agree with Granger's concerns for privacy. It is a value I hold myself and I always make sure to adjust my privacy settings. However, I do not think that Snapchat's information sharing will contribute too greatly to to their user base. Facebook does it, Google does it, and for the most part the companies do not really suffer. However, I have long thought that Snapchat is a dying trend. Snapchat's new look optimizes stories for news and other companies and buries your friends within clutter that is terrible for users to navigate. Snapchat has also fumbled recently with inappropriate ads that sparked many large celebrities to tell their fans to quit snapchat, and many have. So while I don't think this information leaking will lead to massive issues for the app, I think Snapchat is doing a fine job of isolating their users in other ways.
While I think the practice of selling user's information to third parties is creepy and unethical, I think that business will resume as usual for Snapchat. It is a wildly popular, widely used platform, and I believe that no matter what they do, people are still going to use it just as much. However, I think that this might prevent potential new users from joining Snapchat. This could scare off some people considering using the app, and they might turn to other similar platforms that they feel safer using. My earlier point still stands, though, in that I think current users will not be dissuaded from snapchatting because of their new policies.
First of all, most teens don't even read the news so I know for myself, I didn't know this was true until reading this article. And although I do also find this appalling, as a frequent and addicted snapchat user, I will probably never stop using the app due to a privacy violation. Snapchat will continue to thrive and be one of the most used social media platforms. However, I think this is unethical and should definitely be stopped because I think unlike abortion or gun control, most people seem to believe their privacy is important and a right.
I agree that teens don't usually read the news so teens won't even know the situation. Teens are constantly using snapchat every single day and it's even taken over as a key source of communication. Snapchat is only going to gain popularity as more and more people continue to use it but it's not right for them to be selling people's personal information. Privacy is so important but I don't think this will effect Snapchat's popularity.
Snapchat is already in some trouble, and this could push it further down. If they know that google and facebook are getting in trouble for tracking their users, they should realize that it is not a smart business plan. However, if you look at it from their point of view, tracking their users would help them get more advertisement and more money.
How do social media companies make money? By selling user information. They do not target us as the consumer because we do not spend any money on the application. Snapchat doing this also is not a surprise. In regards to wether people will start moving off the platform, I do not think that it will. Even with celebrities like Kylie Jenner talking about how bad it is, teens will insist on using a platform where their parents can not see their past conversations. Politicians will always take backlash for random things so I do not think that there is anything to do about this.
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