TrendsSNAPCHAT: An immersive experience with SPECTACLES

Advertisement

There’s big news from the world of social media, and this time it comes from the top company for teens. That is of course, Snapchat. The numbers say it all: 150 million users connect every day.

Their short, instant videos let us play around with icons and emoticons, and are just plain fun. For the launch of their new product, they even got a new name: Snap Inc. Their special sunglasses, Spectacles, have 2 video recorders and a wireless connection that let you share videos of up to 30 seconds. It’s similar to Stories, which was recently released by Instagram, or may be a direct competitor to Facebook Mentions or Whatsapp. But really, this is on a different level. It’s a bit like Google’s experiment with Google Glass, but there are certain features that definitely make this a more appealing product. Let’s see what they are.

The design is stylish, trendy and perfect for the target market. They’re also accessible – at just €115 they’re a far cry from what Google Glass was selling for. And as far as the point of view, there’s no comparison. You can film circular videos from the perspective of the human eye and share them in real time. Waiting is a thing of the past. Having to position the phone is no longer an issue either, because the glasses follow our gaze like a third eye, and film exactly what we see and what we live, without any filters. It’s like technology is becoming an extension of the body, hardware is being programmed exactly like software, and there’s no more distinction between the means and the message. The means is the message.

“It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience.” These were the words of Evan Spiegel in a recent Wall Street Journal interview. The Snapchat founder talked about using the glasses for the first time on a vacation with his fiancee, supermodel Miranda Kerr. When he saw their hiking trip in Big Sur for the second time, it was like reliving the experience and evoking the same emotions twice. If you were told that there’s a product that can perfectly replicate the feeling you got when skydiving, when walking to the altar, or when you first saw some amazing vista, what would you do? Wouldn’t you rush to buy it? I would.

The WSJ also published photos of Spiegel wearing Spectacles designed by Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel, and this is how tech becomes trendy. I’d wear a high tech device, but I want it to be on trend, colorful, playful, unique. For now, Spiegel claims that it will only be sold in limited quantities because it’s still just an experiment. Just for fun, basically. But we know that the real innovators are the ones who don’t take themselves too seriously – or at least pretend they don’t.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” These were the words of someone who was never afraid to take risks – Steve Jobs.

Well, maybe the road to the future is here…

 

Michela Di Nuzzo

« Se scrivo ciò che sento è perché così facendo abbasso la febbre di sentire». - Fernando Pessoa Giornalista e co-founder, vivo il digital come imprenditrice e appassionata. Percepisco il cambiamento come un'opportunitá mai una minaccia. Occhi spalancati e orecchie aperte, sempre pronta alla condivisione, la chiave di ogni evoluzione.

2 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.