Usually there are “products” and “services” – both of which work to satisfy some deficiency a customer has. If the product works, or the service is helpful, they are successful and widely used. There is a tangible “thing” associated with the offering.

What we are seeing I believe is the notion of “vehicle” replacing (in some arenas) the the tangible value of “products”/”services”. By “vehicle” I mean a platform for direct advertising and market research.

Snapchat offers no real value that I can see. Between texts, phone calls, FaceTime, etc. what is the point of engaging with it? Who does it serve?

Much like Periscope, I think Snapchat feeds into the notion of an individual celebrity. At its root, the value of celebrity is not public exposure, but a filter of access to exposure. The Kardashians have worked this model out pretty well…

To conclude my rant, I’d like to point out that I think within all of the swarm for immediacy, instant, erased, etc. – that the notion of archiving communication will become more important. On Facebook attempt trying to find a post you didn’t engage with from a site last Tuesday that you want to share today. If you have 3 hours to scroll, maybe it will come up.

Archival access online is the next app.