We don't want to own people's photos. We want to help them communicate with friends in whatever way makes them happiest.
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.
If I had a ringtone, it would probably be Neil Diamond.
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.
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.
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.
Ephemeral should be the default.
The intent to preserve and capture something is very different from the urge to share, but they had become intertwined.
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.
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.
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.
In tech in particular, everyone is so serious all the time and has these grand visions.
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.
When we look at social media, we really look at it on a continuum, and the continuum is from accumulation to instant expression.
I think diversity is a challenge everywhere.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We no longer have to capture the 'real world' and recreate it online. We simply live and communicate at the same time.
