snapchat hacker onlineA vibrant alternative to tech monoculture**My friends from San Francisco complain about the rise of a tech monoculture in their city, and I understand what they mean. San Francisco used to draw creative and offbeat types from all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of interests, because it was beautiful, affordable and weird (in a good way). Not only is it much less affordable these days, it’s also less diverse and less interesting to those who aren’t totally focused on technology startups. Indeed, today’s Bay Area isn’t for everyone.**By contrast, L.A. remains a vast, vibrant and diverse patchwork of varying scenes, each a bit different than the next, yet still accommodating to a wide range of interests and pursuits. The tech scene here is growing and maturing; it’s easier than ever to raise capital and hire good talent. But perhaps the greatest feature of L.A.’s startup scene is that it could never take over the character of the whole city. A lot of people find that an attractive prospect.**The impact of that culture and diversity go beyond just quality of life — cue Google Glass versus Snap Spectacles. Spectacles have a fashionable cool factor that Glass ultimately did not — the product decisions that drove their respective developments were influenced by their environments. Snapchat’s L.A. roots give it a better sense of what’s cool, and what’s meaningful to its audience, whereas Silicon Valley focuses instead on what’s technologically achievable with less focus on what’s culturally salient.**Snapchat may become the PayPal of SoCal; its momentum and the prospect of Snapchat billionaires and millionaires let loose in L.A. is enough of a draw to put Los Angeles in many up-and-coming tech stars’ consideration set. Content is becoming an important factor in the next chapter of tech, something that is core to L.A. culture. One can already see how the L.A. DNA of Evan Spiegel is influencing Snapchat’s journey.**For those entrepreneurs getting tired of the constant class warfare and tech monoculture of the Bay Area, L.A. is cementing itself as an attractive option. The quality of life and relatively sustainable cost of living may prompt some to stay, as well. Snapchat will accelerate that trend, adding vibrancy to the tech culture of the city.A Glossary of Snapchat’s Parts*Snapchat is full of entertaining and addictive features. They include:**Chat: Snapchat lets users send messages to one another that disappear within seconds. You have to know your friend’s user name to send a message, which makes Snapchat a place where people tend to connect with those they actually know.**Lenses: The Lenses feature lets people augment their selfies with things like cartoon dog ears, floral hair wreaths and animated butterflies.**Filters: The Filters tool overlays people’s photos with images or stickers. Many Snapchat filters are available based on one’s location; they are known as geofilters. If you are in San Francisco, for example, you may see special stickers with the Victorian homes, known as Painted Ladies, for which the city is famous.**Stories: Snapchat lets users string together photos and short videos to keep a running account of their days. The images disappear over time, so people tend to check in on their friends’ Stories often. People watch Stories for a personal perspective on life.**Live Stories: Snapchat’s editors select images and videos that are taken by the app’s community of users to tell stories about places and events. Users give Snapchat permission to do so via the terms of service. People watch Live Stories for a community perspective on life.**Discover: News and entertainment companies present their stories on Snapchat Discover. Some brands, such as “Saturday Night Live” and the cable network E!, have created Discover-only content, making the Snapchat app feel like a media company in and of itself. People watch and read Discover for an editorial perspective on life.**Memories: This is the Snapchat feature people use to save a personal collection of images and videos. Otherwise, the content on Snapchat — including Discover and Chat messages We could give a long explanation to describe how social media and apps are evolving in order to match the current trends and interests of active users around the world, but we'll just share the above video instead. It not only gives a humorous and quick overview of Snapchat, but it also provides an interesting take or look at why Snapchat is so popular at this moment in time, especially among teenagers.**(It's made by Casey Neistat, a popular YouTube creator.)**What's all the lingo mean?*Here are some of the common terms and phrases used in the Snapchat world:**Snapchatters: Snapchat users.**Snaps: Photos or videos taken with Snapchat. You can send a snap to another snapchatter, but it can only be viewed by the recipient for one to 10 seconds before it disappears forever. To take a snap, open Snapchat, then hit the capture button on the

• published: 09 Jan 2018
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