Snapchat’s CEO has finally weighed in on how he felt after Instagram copied the iconic ‘Stories’ feature that became so synonymous with his social media platform, offering assessment on whether it was an ‘injustice’.
‘Stories’ is undeniably one of Instagram‘s most recognizable and valuable features for its users, allowing them to reveal brief insights to their followers that disappear forever after 24 hours.
Having been part of the social media platform for nearly a decade now it’s hard to imagine using Instagram without Stories, but it was actually a feature that was copied directly from rival app Snapchat.
Snapchat’s entire ethos was short-lived content that would disappear, and they’d introduced Stories to the app over three years prior to Instagram’s adoption of the feature, and it was one of their most used components.
Now, nearly 9 years after his core feature was ‘stolen’ from him, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has finally revealed how he felt and still feels about Instagram’s actions on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
When asked whether he ever considered getting in contact with Mark Zuckerberg after it was revealed that Instagram would be adopting Stories, Spiegel explained:
“No we didn’t do that, I think one of things that I really admire about Kevin Systrom [Instagram’s founder] is when they copied the Stories feature they stopped pretending that they were doing anything different.
“With things like ‘Poke’ they tried to pass it off as their own creation, ‘oh we’re doing it a little bit differently’, with Stories Kevin Systrom came out and just said ‘hey, we think this is a really great feature, this is a really great product and we’re going to steal it and put it in Instagram and we think you’re going to love it’, and I think the honesty at least was admirable.”
It’s clear that there’s no bad blood felt between the companies then, especially as both remain incredibly successful multi-billion dollar companies.
Spiegel even reveals that he copied features from other social media platforms in the past too, illustrating one idea he nabbed from TikTok creator ByteDance back when they just had news app Toutiao.
“In the very early days I went to visit ByteDance when they only had Toutiao […] but it was backed by AI, by ML [machine learning],” Spiegel reveals.
“When I saw that, that was really inspiring to me and we made a big change to our product. We actually separated out all the creator and publisher content from ‘Stories from Friends’, and we said unlike social media where you’re seeing content based on what your friends like or what your friends comment on, on Snapchat we’re going to do ML-driven recommendations.
Spiegel’s idea for an ML-based recommendation system only came after seeing ByteDance’s Toutiao implement a similar idea (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Snap Inc.)
“So you’ll have content from your friends but then you’re going to have this whole other world of content from creators and publishers that’s going to be recommended based on your interests and what you’re passionate about, so I do think drawing inspiration from other companies and other businesses is part of innovating.”
This decision and ‘innovation’ from Snapchat was one of the earliest moments when social media would introduce algorithm-based recommendations to its users, which is by far the dominant mode that we see used in almost every platform today, and much like how Instagram copied stories, Snapchat wouldn’t have had the idea without copying ByteDance.
There is a controversial reason why the Snapchat CEO sets new employees up to fail on their first day on the job.
The social media app’s co-founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel, lifted the lid on his bizarre training tactic for new hires.
People who join Snapchat are put to the test on their first day by being asked to pull together a presentation.
And while that might sound like anyone’s worst nightmare on the first day on the job, there’s apparently a good reason behind it.
Making an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett, Spiegel explained why he likes to put new recruits on the spot.
He said: “When you have no context for what the company is working on, no idea what’s going on, how on earth are you supposed to come up with a great idea? I mean, it’s almost impossible.”
However, he isn’t trying to get usable ideas from the new hires when asking them to put together a proposal, instead it’s about ripping off the bandaid of failure.
The CEO continued: “99% of ideas are not good—but 1% is. We really abide by the concept that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
Spiegel also went on to explain the three values that he’s looking for in a potential new employee during the hiring process.
He wants his workforce to be kind, smart and creative.
Spiegel continued: “We learned over time that actually, wow, kindness is the essential ingredient if you want to have a creative culture.”
And he believes that when a worker is struggling, it’s even more important to be kind.
He added: “The nice thing to do is maybe just make them feel good about it: ‘oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be okay’.
“The kind thing to do is really help them succeed.”
Many viewers took to the YouTube comment section to share their reactions to the interview.
One inspired user said: “This is good stuff. Kindness fosters creativity. I will remember that.”
Another shared a similar sentiment, adding: “Brilliant I love the way the conversation went about creative ideas and bringing the best out in people. One of the best interviews.”
However, not everyone was convinced, with one person commenting: “Not Evan trying to convince the world that snap chat is different and he isn’t a capitalist billionaire.”
Controversial reason Snapchat CEO sets new employees up to fail on their first day on the job
The co-founder of Snapchat puts new hires to the test
There is a controversial reason why the Snapchat CEO sets new employees up to fail on their first day on the job.
The social media app’s co-founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel, lifted the lid on his bizarre training tactic for new hires.
People who join Snapchat are put to the test on their first day by being asked to pull together a presentation.
And while that might sound like anyone’s worst nightmare on the first day on the job, there’s apparently a good reason behind it.
Making an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett, Spiegel explained why he likes to put new recruits on the spot.
He said: “When you have no context for what the company is working on, no idea what’s going on, how on earth are you supposed to come up with a great idea? I mean, it’s almost impossible.”
However, he isn’t trying to get usable ideas from the new hires when asking them to put together a proposal, instead it’s about ripping off the bandaid of failure.
The CEO continued: “99% of ideas are not good—but 1% is. We really abide by the concept that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
Spiegel also went on to explain the three values that he’s looking for in a potential new employee during the hiring process.
He wants his workforce to be kind, smart and creative.
Evan Spiegel puts new hires to the test on their first day (YouTube/@TheDiaryOfACEO)
Spiegel continued: “We learned over time that actually, wow, kindness is the essential ingredient if you want to have a creative culture.”
And he believes that when a worker is struggling, it’s even more important to be kind.
He added: “The nice thing to do is maybe just make them feel good about it: ‘oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be okay’.
“The kind thing to do is really help them succeed.”
Many viewers took to the YouTube comment section to share their reactions to the interview.
One inspired user said: “This is good stuff. Kindness fosters creativity. I will remember that.”
Another shared a similar sentiment, adding: “Brilliant I love the way the conversation went about creative ideas and bringing the best out in people. One of the best interviews.”
However, not everyone was convinced, with one person commenting: “Not Evan trying to convince the world that snap chat is different and he isn’t a capitalist billionaire.”
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@TheDiaryOfACEO
Snapchat CEO reveals real reason he turned down $3,000,000,000 from Mark Zuckerberg.
The Snapchat CEO has revealed the shocking real reason why he turned down an enormous $3 billion offer from Mark Zuckerberg.
The boss of Meta reportedly offered to buy Snapchat from Evan Spiegel when he was 23 years old.
Making an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett, Spiegel explained the reason why he turned it down.
Talking to Bartlett, Spiegel recalled speaking to Zuckerberg, saying: “I think it was an initial email and I think we met at some point.”
He continued: “There was a real conversation about what it would be like to join forces but ultimately when we talked with our board and investors we decided that we would rather go it alone.”
Spiegel made the decision not to take Zuckerberg up on his lucrative offer to buy Snapchat.
He explained that this was because he ‘believed in the future of it’ and that gave him the ‘confidence’ to turn Zuckerberg down.
And that wasn’t the only detail that the Snapchat CEO lifted the lid on during his interview with Bartlett.
During the chat, Spiegel also explained why he likes to put new recruits to the test on their first day of the job.
He said: “When you have no context for what the company is working on, no idea what’s going on, how on earth are you supposed to come up with a great idea? I mean, it’s almost impossible.”
However, he isn’t trying to get usable ideas from the new hires when asking them to put together a proposal, instead it’s about ripping off the bandaid of failure.
The CEO continued: “99% of ideas are not good—but 1% is. We really abide by the concept that the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
Spiegel also went on to explain the three values that he’s looking for in a potential new employee during the hiring process.
He wants his workforce to be kind, smart and creative.
Spiegel continued: “We learned over time that actually, wow, kindness is the essential ingredient if you want to have a creative culture.”
And he believes that when a worker is struggling, it’s even more important to be kind.
He added: “The nice thing to do is maybe just make them feel good about it: ‘oh don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be okay’.
“The kind thing to do is really help them succeed.”
Mind-blowing video shows CEO asking employees to buy stocks 64 days before company imploded
A mind-blowing video shows the CEO of an energy company asking employees to buy up stocks just 64 days before the firm imploded.
Enron was an American energy company that became embroiled in a scandal in the early 00s.
Investors were told to hold onto their shares while executives began unloading them, causing the share price to drop.
And now a video has resurfaced on social media which shows the CEO at the time, Ken Lay, asking employees to buy shares in the firm.
The footage was taken on August 16, 2001, just two days after the previous CEO, Jeff Skilling, had resigned.
In the clip, Lay addressed the workforce, saying: “I’m going to share with you some of the things going on here shortly and show you the reason I am excited and I do think that the next several months, next few years, are going to be great for Enron and great for Enron’s employees and that’s all starting now.”
During the meeting, the CEO encouraged his employees to buy up shares in the business, claiming that it was a great market to be in.
Viewers took to the YouTube comment section to share their reactions to the video, with many sharing a similar sentiment.
One user wrote: “It took 64 days after this before bankruptcy.”
Another said: “All those employees would lose their 401Ks and Enron stock.”
Ken Lay asked employees to buy up stock (YouTube/@gabel305)
A third person joked: “This seems like such a great company. Should I apply?”
And a fourth user added: “His family walked away with millions. His employees who worked hard and also invested in the company walked away with absolutely nothing. Their nest egg was stolen by this guy.”
While stock had been continuing to decrease, many people were calmed by Lay’s demeanour and saw the decreased price as an opportunity to buy up stock.
However, despite his encouragement to get people to invest, Lay was accused of selling over $70 million worth of stock and used the money to repay cash advances on lines of credit.
He also went on to sell another $29 million worth of Enron stock in the open market.
Lay’s wife, Linda, was also accused of doing similar – selling a whopping 500,000 shares of the company which added up to $1.2 million.
Just 64 days after the infamous meeting took place, Enron, which was once named ‘America’s Most Innovative Company’ by Fortune Magazine, would officially be bankrupt.
Doctor issues warning to anyone who can’t stop watching their own Instagram Stories.
Instagram stories allow you to give your followers a temporary glimpse into your life and thoughts before disappearing 24 hours later, and is the perfect happy medium for anything you want to share without fully committing to a dedicated post.
Brought to the platform nearly a decade ago in August 2016, stories are without a doubt one of the most popular features that Instagram has ever introduced, and its widely used by most users on a daily basis.
In the age of curated feeds and meticulously crafted social media personalities, stories give users that level of freedom that they’d otherwise resigned themselves to be without – although it turns out that obsessing over your own story output might be a little bit unhealthy.
Everyone from celebrities to ‘normal’ users utilize Instagram stories (Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
According to narcissism expert Dr. Supriya McKenna, spending too much mental energy on your Instagram stories – and wider social media posts as a whole – is a symptom of self indulgence and is very much unhealthy behavior.
Outlining in an interview with Tyla, McKenna breaks obsessive social media behavior into two contrasting categories.
The first of which involves simply rewatching your Instagram stories, often dozens of times before they disappear:
“You might find yourself doing this for various reasons,” McKenna illustrates. “It could be as simple as you being really proud of what you have produced, so you are just revisiting your post and savoring the feeling of pride you get from it. This isn’t actually unhealth in itself, and can actually be the opposite.”
This is contrary to humans’ innate desire to focus of the negatives and failures, which is likely an evolutionary mechanic derived to aid survival instincts. Instead, this allows you to enhance your self-worth and become more confident as an individual, which is very much healthy behavior even if it might not seem like it at the time.
McKenna even goes as far to argue that “if this type of social media ‘self stalking’ sounds like you – well, just enjoy it, and give yourself a back on the back.”
Where it starts to become dangerous is when that obsession shifts into a desire for validation from others.
“This is all about craving external validation in order to feel whole and good about yourself,” Dr. McKenna outlines, “and if your sense of self-esteem comes predominantly from how other people view you (rather than it coming from an innate sense of worthiness) then this might be a problem for you.”
It can lead to feelings of failure despite the post itself being an accomplishment, as you’ll end up unfulfilled if you don’t get the ever-growing recognition and validation from others that you crave.
It can also lead to narcissism if you do indeed receive the attention and praise that you crave, as Dr. McKenna expounds:
“Conversely, when the ‘likes’ do come flooding in, you might feel incredible – successful and maybe even invincible – but if these feelings subside fairly quickly and you find yourself back on the treadmill of creating content for others to applaud you for, then take note.”
It’s definitely something to think about the next time you’re heading back onto the app to check your story, as there’s nothing innately wrong with having a peek but if you start worrying about engagement then you might be in trouble.
