What Snapchat, Twitter & Facebook Need to do NOW
It’s fun to think about where we’re going in 2017. In looking at what these bohemoths did in 2016 it’s interesting to see all of the spinning and fighting turning into something else. We’ve seen some blood and now it’s time to watch each of these platforms drag their arm across their busted lips and define just who the hell they are in the space.
- Snapchat
We’re sooooo in the right direction here. Snap is slow-playing the tech game of poker so magnificently. It’s next rollouts should get Spectacle creators to make a little buzz for them. While we have a great face-camera/stylish glasses with lights it still needs to become THE must-have device of 2017. The only reason to make it that way is to have the hardware and software play together and redefine the way the average Indiana soccer mom scrapbooks and showcases.
You guys are a product company with a huge software play to back it up. It’s time to flex those muscles and show the public (not just nerds like me) why circular video is the way they should start sharing their memories.
2. Twitter
I’m not gonna bore the hell outta you and say “kill dead accounts, merge with Periscope, empower communities”…. even though I kinda want to. Twitter has taken some important steps to becoming more important as a whole. It’s these little building blocks that make an empire and they’re doing a pretty good job. Periscope is now 360 capable. The next steps is for these 360 videos to be viewed through a head mounted unit like cardboard or to be integrated into the HTC Vive and other devices (not counting on this to be an Oculus play, ya know?).
I’ve got a list a mile long that I want to do with Twitter (my favorite platform) and I share that regularly with my friends that work there. Heck, I want to play even more friendly in the scheme of things too! I’d feel more comfortable if Twitter just started to look like it had it’s shit together, ya know. What’s the average tenure there, like 4 weeks?
3. Facebook
Okay Facebook, every time somebody else does something you try to do it. Sometimes this spreads you a little thin. You don’t have to Death Star everything.
What Facebook really needs to do next is to show us just how Oculus is going to be a part of the infrastructure. Oculus will slowly bleed into Facebook until it’s all just one big ol’ thing and most folks won’t know or care about meme superstar Palmer Lucky.
4. Instagram
Schedule your damn livestreams. Ugh. Livestreaming on Instagram is annoying. I don’t get what you’re doing yet. Are you just like, “Hey, we gotta do some livestreaming because everyone is live streaming?”
Can you do something that is relevant to the content on one’s feed? Like, “hey let’s talk about this cat pic” and that’s what the stream is about. As it sits right now it’s just not special.
Well… that Instagram thing upset me more than I expected. Anyhoooooo, moving on, we’re in an interesting time when tech and entertainment is merging in a very special way. It’s gonna be a damn fun year to see who throws their chips in and wins big and who ends up with the barrel.
If you’re into this renaissance in digital that’s happening right damn now we’ve got a conference coming up in February . You should totally check it out (unless you’re a total doofus who doesn’t want to understand the world around them).
Good luck this year. Use your abilities in this very new world as livestreaming and virtual reality and apps and creators and studios and god-knows-what-else merge together to redefine media and human interaction. As always, follow my silly ass on Twitter @Ryan_A_Bell and check out the tweet below for Summit info:
