The One Snapchat Feature that is Frustratingly Clever
Someone is typing? Thanks for letting me know.
I don’t like Snapchat.
The only reason why I have it installed on my phone in the first place is because my fellow university friends insist it’s the best way of communicating with each other. But, if our group chats were held on another platform, you bet the photo-sharing app would be deleted from my phone as soon as possible.
In my experience, everything I can do on Snapchat can be done easily on another form of social media. Furthermore, it is tedious to be constantly saving messages in order for them not to be automatically deleted after 24-hours. After five years of use, I still struggle to see the point of the platform.
However, there is one feature on Snapchat that sets it apart from their competition; a feature that is easily overlooked, but is sneakily executed to encourage you to spend time you never intended to spend on their app.
The Typing Indicator
Out of all the messaging apps I use (including Facebook Messenger, Instagram, iMessage and WhatsApp), Snapchat is the only platform that sends two notifications for every message you receive. Whenever one of your contacts starts typing, you will be immediately alerted with the famous Snapchat ‘ping’ sound to alert you that said person is typing, followed by another a couple of seconds later when the message has finally been sent.
It is totally unnecessary, frustratingly spammy, but admittedly clever.
When you are in a group chat, your notifications are doubled if the gap between messages is long enough. If three people are having a discussion, but it takes a couple of minutes for them to respond, your phone is going to be buzzing in two-notification increments until it frustrates you to the point of cracking.
The time between the initial ‘X is typing…’ notification and the ‘from X’ alert is also a key way of persuading the user to open their app. For instance, if there are five seconds between those notifications, it isn’t unfair to assume that the other person has sent you a sentence or two. However, if there is a three-minute gap between messages, then get your reading glasses out, because you’re about to read a paragraph.
If you know that somebody has just typed an entire paragraph out, the temptation to unlock your phone and read it is simply too strong — especially since there is no preview as to what the message says; leaving the blank notification taunting you until you succumb to clever app-design.
And of course, there is that strange panic where someone you haven’t spoken to in a very long time suddenly starts typing, but the final message never comes through — what is that all about?
Final Thoughts
Getting users to open your app in the first place is the most important aspect of any app — as well as encouraging people to come back frequently. While I cannot stand the constant notifications pinging in my pocket, and the negative social outcomes of putting my phone in ‘Do not Disturb’ mode; I cannot help but applaud Snapchat for persuading me to open their app more than any other.
The increased number of pings from your phone in your pocket make it seem as if you are being messaged a lot more than you actually are, giving it a slight edge over the other apps in your notification list. And to put the icing on the cake — there is no way you can turn this off in the settings. Social media is well and truly a psychological game.
Well played, Snapchat. Joe — zero, Snapchat — one.
