Social Apps Are Now a Commodity

I am very old. As in, my age begins with a four, a profoundly uncool number for an age to start with. Which is to say, too old to use Snapchat, the image-messaging social-network app. Founded in 2011, it’s most popular among young people, who spurned Facebook and even Instagram for it. Why? For one part, it’s because we olds are on Facebook and even Instagram. But for another part, it’s just because Snapchat is a thing that young people use, and so other young people use it. That’s how the story goes, anyway.

But maybe something simpler is happening. Perhaps there is no magic in any of these apps and services anymore. Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and GroupMe and Messenger and WhatsApp and all the rest—all are more or less the same. They are commodities for software communication, and choosing between them is more like choosing between brands of shampoo or mayonnaise than it is like choosing a set of features or even a lifestyle.

* * *

It’s not just a myth that Snapchat is for young people. Sixty percent of its users 25 years old or less, and 18 and 24, that revered demographic of marketers. Almost a quarter of the app’s users are under 18. But that’s also changing, as more millennials—or should I say 30-somethings—pick up the app too.