Is Snapchat The New Twitter?

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Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

  • Pierre Landry sits in for Terry and Heather B.
  • Last week, we talked about Snapchat‘s $1.8 billion series in funding, that makes it close to a $20 billion company. Well, this week, comes word that Snapchat passes Twitter in terms of daily usage. The 4 year old messaging app now has 150 million people using it each and every day. Twitter has less than 140 million. Is Twitter faltering? 
  • Tony Fadell is leaving Nest. This is a big surprise. Fadell is widely known for having a pivotal design role in the creation of the iPod at Apple. In 2010 he founded Nest (smart thermostat and fire detectors). Nest was acquired by Google in 2014 for $3.2 billion. In 2015, Google passed the waining Google Glass division over to Fadell’s team, and now, two years later, he’s out. 
  • Revenge Facebook. It’s becoming more and more commonplace. Maybe it’s a rude neighbour. Maybe it’s someone who did you wrong on the subway. We’re now taking pictures/videos of regular people (just like you and I) who may (or may not) have done something not so nice. We’re publicly shaming them. Calling them out. Vigilante justice? Justifiable use of social media or will this bring out the worst in us, as a species? Care to discuss?
  • App of the week: Hopscotch.

Listen here…