We built our business on creativity, and we're going to have to go through an education process for the next five years to explain to people how our users and that creativity creates value.
— Evan Spiegel
We no longer have to capture the 'real world' and recreate it online. We simply live and communicate at the same time.
Five years ago, we came to the realization that the camera can be used for more than capturing memories. We showed it can be used for talking. The dream for us is expanding the camera and what it can do for your life. It has capabilities beyond making memories.
One of the things I'm trying to get better at is apologizing when I make mistakes. That's been a big priority of mine.
I think diversity is a challenge everywhere.
Snapchat really has to do with the way photographs have changed. Historically, photos have always been used to save really important memories: major life moments. But today... pictures are being used for talking.
We never saw Google+ Circles or Facebook Lists as reflective of the way our friendships play out.
It's no surprise companies that quickly grow in value attract those who may want to also profit from the hard work of others.
Traditional social media, in the view of our company, has become a bit repetitive. It doesn't feel very good to be marketed to by your friends. Snapchat is different because it says, look, friends aren't valuable to you just because they can get you into a cool party.
Ephemeral should be the default.
We are not advertising ourselves as a secure platform. It's a communication platform. It's not our job to police the world or Snapchat of jerks.
I text nonstop, and I love emoji. I'm also on the phone quite a bit for work - probably more than 10 calls per day.
Technology businesses in general are susceptible to hacking. That's why you have to work really, really, really hard with law enforcement, with security experts, internal and external groups, to make sure you're paying attention and addressing security concerns.
We don't want to own people's photos. We want to help them communicate with friends in whatever way makes them happiest.
In the future, we'd like to support upcoming artists, people that are trying to be actors.
The essence of conversation is not which media format we choose to talk to each other with, so we don't differentiate between snaps and chats. It's just someone wanting to talk to you.
More people are watching college football on Snapchat than they are on television.
People are going to copy your product if you build great stuff. Just because Yahoo has a search box doesn't make it Google.
Conforming happens so naturally that we can forget how powerful it is. But the thing that makes us human are those times we listen to the whispers of our soul and allow ourselves to be pulled in another direction.
Online one day, you log in, and you realise, 'This is not me.' Everything you're posting, you're doing it in the context of everything you've posted before. Let's delete everything, save the stuff that's important, and then you only have to organise the one per cent that's worth keeping.
I just try really hard to be me, and sometimes that means I'm unfiltered. I try to give people myself because I think making a great product is being in touch with how you feel about things and being able to express things. I really hope I can stay in touch with how I feel about things and I'm able to express that.
When we look at social media, we really look at it on a continuum, and the continuum is from accumulation to instant expression.
In tech in particular, everyone is so serious all the time and has these grand visions.
TheIinternet is a timeless void - you put something in there, and it's there forever and loses a lot of context.
Having been bullied growing up, it's something that's really near and dear to my heart. You probably won't have many friends on Snapchat if you're being a jerk.
Creating a representation of yourself for the Internet stopped making sense when we were all on phones and connected everywhere.
It's not about working harder; it's about working the system.
There is real value in sharing moments that don't live forever.
I feel like I'm finally learning how to use Twitter, and Tweetbot has been a huge part of that. The interface is awesome, and it lets me easily manage two accounts at once.
When we're in that kind of childish space, we're more genuine and feel more comfortable with our friends.
I think, with any new product that's difficult to understand, there are always lots of questions and criticism. I think we have all the right criticism. We're just going to keep executing on what we believe.
The feed was probably the biggest innovation in social media of late. But the interesting thing about a feed is that the more content you consume, the farther in time you go.
Typing and read receipts make a lot of sense for messaging. You write a letter, you put it in an envelope, you send it to a friend, and you want to know when they get it. It's like FedEx - they let you know when the package gets dropped off.
We've never been anti-permanence. We just belief deletion should be the default.
We're kind of looking at a future where people acknowledge the hybridization of digital and analog, and appreciate and understand that they both affect each other.
Someone will always have an opinion about you. Whatever you do won't ever be enough. So find something important to you. Find something that you love.
Generally speaking, the people who come to work at Snapchat believe in personal growth. It's part of why Snapchat's stories are ephemeral, because you will be a different person tomorrow.
I'm not a great manager; I try to be a great leader. And for me, that's been going through a process of not how to be a great CEO but how to be a great Evan, and that's really been the challenge.
If we take a step back and look at what Snapchat is, it all starts with the camera.
We believe that the next generation of powerful mobile companies have a deep understanding of the world as a unified whole, where digital and analog experiences affect each other rather than transporting analog experiences into the digital realm.
There's this weird thing that happens when you contribute something to a static profile. You have to worry about how this new content fits in with your online persona that's supposed to be you. It's uncomfortable and unfortunate.
I snap with my mom. It was a great way for me to see my dog when I was in college. We send selfies, too.
The intent to preserve and capture something is very different from the urge to share, but they had become intertwined.
Cars bring me sheer joy.
I keep hearing about battery innovation, but it never makes it to my phone.
If I had a ringtone, it would probably be Neil Diamond.
It's important to be thoughtful and mindful about the things you say to other people.
I'd like to create a space for people who have a lot of talent but not a lot of reach.
I don't want to disrupt anything. We never conceive of our products as disruptive - we don't look at something and say, 'Let's disrupt that.' It's always about how we can evolve this and make this better.
For Snapchat, the closer we can get to 'I want to talk to you' - that emotion of wanting to see you and then seeing you - the better and better our product and our view of the world will be.
