A year of Facebook missteps has allowed Snap to marry lessons from the social network giant with its own fundamental approaches to privacy and data collection.
Why it matters: With increased scrutiny of social media companies' practices when it comes to user privacy, Snap can gain an edge by cultivating an image of deep concern for this issue — but it will also have to show it's learned from its own early mistakes.
The latest: Snap took some time to roll out its third-party developer kit, Snap Kit, which is similar to Facebook's third-party developer tools. Snap says its approach to letting outside developers into its network is much more user privacy-focused than fellow social media companies.
Where Snap got lucky: From the start, Snap had some fundamental differences from other social media companies like Facebook — notably, it didn't believe in ultra-targeted ads based on invasive levels of user data.
"The way that you treat user privacy is really important. For us, that goes back to when we were in my dorm room. When it was just me and Bobby, when there were three or four people using our products, we cared about data retention. It’s taken seven years for people in the technology industry to take a look at what we’ve done, getting rid of personal information rather than storing it, hoarding it forever. And to say, 'Hey, that actually kind of makes sense.'"
Lessons from Facebook: But Snap was also able to quietly watch Facebook's missteps over the past year and adjust its products and marketing based on the public's reactions to the social giant.
But, but, but: Snap will still have prove that it's learned from its own mistakes as well. In 2014, it had to settle charges with the FTC over its data retention claims to users and, in late 2013, 4.6 million users' data was leaked after the company ignored a security researcher's warning.
Go deeper: Big Tech's reprieve may be short.
