A technology trend in the eyes of a 15-year-old American Girl

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A few months ago, I was 15 years old in a senior sister vowed to tell me: Snapchat will become the next Instagram. Earlier, she said her classmates and friends were using Instagram as Facebook. I respond to her judgment. But it turns out that she might have been.

So, taking advantage of the Christmas holiday, I asked her a lot about how she and her friends use technology, including Instragram, Facebook, Instant HTC, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter and FaceTime. And put her answers and my observations as follows.

Instagram

Looking at her Instagram, I noticed that most of the photos in her stream were characters, not landscapes, objects or experiences. This is very different from the photos I share with my Instagram friends, but it is similar to the photos that appear on my Facebook stream.

My opinion: Facebook buys Instagram sincerity to buy the right!

Facebook

She says she will do as little as possible on Facebook. "You'll be addicted." You'll get lost in the end, I don't want to be like that. "The idea is really interesting. Facebook does a good job of showing users a highly correlated content, but its users (at least the user) feel bad about using Facebook services. She also mentioned that she would only look at Facebook when she was tired of watching Instagram.

My view: Facebook can be a bad brand, and that's inevitable.

Instant Messaging

In my childhood, I first used mobile text messaging, AOL Instant Messenger, and later developed to Facebook Chat, while my sister said she and her friends could hardly send im with their friends. "If you go to the Facebook Chat, you'll find that people you don't like to talk to Ta always greet you the first time." ”

After school, her communication with her friends is basically done through iOS apps, such as imessage and Snapchat. She also uses Facebook messages frequently, mostly by sending notes asynchronously to others (similar to email for adults).

My point of view: When my sister's generation gets to college, Facebook's email products may also be able to grab a sizeable share of the market from Gmail and Yahoo's mouth (I'm in college, where almost all social or academic communication is done by mail). I emailed her some time ago only to find that she did not even remember the Gmail password, can imagine how long she has not used the mail.

Snapchat

My sister said with certainty that the popularity of Snapchat in her circle of friends was quite Instagram. She gave me an example: one time she saw a man dozing off at the airport, so she photographed it with a Snapchat. Such things if expressed in words, the effect not only greatly reduced, but also makes people feel awkward. "It's a good way to keep in touch with friends when you really have nothing to say. "In my words, if traditional messaging is more functional (communication based on a purpose), Snapchat is just the opposite," he said.

My opinion: Snapchat is definitely a communication tool.

Tumblr

My sister's view of Tumblr is also quite interesting. She first thinks Tumblr is just a photo service (she knows, of course, that she can post text on it). I reminded her: "It's a blog platform, you know that?" "But the reality is that she sees all the photos on dashboard."

Second, although she also knows that there are many active bloggers on the Tumblr, she says that most of the people she knows are not posted on it, saying that most of her friends only consume the content, and only a handful of them will send something to express what they want to be.

Third, she says most of her friends are no longer using Tumblr when they are in high. "Tumblr is basically a junior high school kid, especially those who are trendy, and they just reprint someone else's stuff," he said. ”

Finally, while Instagram is a place to focus on "celebrities and brands," she points out that her friends will focus on the people they want to be Tumblr.

My opinion: I cannot refute the notion that "Tumblr is a junior high school student", especially Tumblr being used as an identity tool. In retrospect, my friend and I used MySpace when I was in junior high school, and we turned to Facebook. In junior high, you will be very concerned about your personal presentation (toss up the theme and background images of MySpace or Tumblr personal pages), and when you go to high school, you will be more focused on showing who you are with (photos on Facebook and Instagram)-maybe that's the thing?

Twitter

She knows little about Twitter because few of her high school classmates use it. "Nobody uses it at all." I know you're obsessed with it, but I don't understand. Maybe there are a few kids who can use Twitter, but they're almost always noisy in class and feel like they have a lot of important things to say. (Note: Unfortunately, I was like this in high school.) ）

Twitter was mostly a service I used to find other links. I then asked her where she found the link. "What did you say?" She couldn't understand what I was asking. I changed the question: "What links do you read?" Which sites do they come from? Which blogs? ”

"I don't read links, nor do I read blogs." I still don't understand. Do you mean funny videos on facebook? Some people will send some links on it, but none of them can arouse my interest. ”

She also does not know BuzzFeed is what thing, still do not watch Vogue blog! I'm shocked!

My opinion: For Twitter, this actually means a huge opportunity. 10-somethings are driving the development of Instagram and Snapchat, but they are not using Twitter. If Twitter can figure out how to attract a younger generation, the growth opportunities will be considerable.

The Next Big Thing

Unfortunately, my sister couldn't say which product the next Instagram or Snapchat would be. But she told me about a product that she and her friends would definitely use: a free, similar FaceTime application.

Obviously, high school students love FaceTime (I had no idea), but often, money can be a big problem. To save money, some of her friends use apps like Kik (not using text messages) and desperately need a free class FaceTime application.

My opinion: It seems that I am old.