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Jul 16, 2020Liked by Packy McCormick

I am so glad I stopped by and read this! I am one of those who probably dismissed SNAP as just another Gen Z social app which would be decimated by TikTok ...

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Excellent points and analysis!

Really enjoyed reading this.

For some more background on the rise and fall (before the rise again!) of Snapchat, I wrote about them early on when they went public: https://medium.com/@ChrisHarveyEsq/snapchat-files-its-ipo-and-reveals-information-about-its-operations-48b0251c7830

One thing we both didn't touch on is also perhaps one of the most competitive moats that Snap has built into its DNA: Privacy.

Evan is a huge privacy proponent.

If you haven't read his USC commencement speech on this issue, I implore you to read it. It will be the banner that future generations will look to and think, "Wow, this guy was way ahead of his time."

I'll leave the story out but the first passage struck a cord in me:

https://time.com/collection-post/3881609/snapchat-evan-spiegel-graduation-speech/

"It reminded me that oftentimes we do all sorts of silly things to avoid appearing different. Conforming happens so naturally that we can forget how powerful it is – we want to be accepted by our peers – we want to be a part of the group. It’s in our biology. But the things that make us human are those times we listen to the whispers of our soul and allow ourselves to be pulled in another direction. Conformity is so fascinating and so pervasive that it has been studied for a very long time. It turns out there are two things that can dramatically reduce conformity in a group setting.

• The first is a single dissenting voice.

• The second is the ability to communicate privately with other members of the group.

Our government gives us the right to privacy and the right to express ourselves freely in the hope that we might mitigate conformity. Democracy wasn’t designed to promote popular thought. It was architected to protect dissent. For, as President Kennedy said, 'Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.'

...Voice your dissent."

https://time.com/collection-post/3881609/snapchat-evan-spiegel-graduation-speech/

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