I recently read a Snarketing post and Article highlighted by Ron Shevlin on the 'Venmo Line' and how there is a huge disconnect between the way millennial's think, and the way in which the rest of us more mature, experienced people think when it come to data privacy. I came to the conclusion that this gap is not really a gap....it is just a manifestation of how Social Media has accelerated the true attributes in human nature and brought out the voyeuristic tendencies that we all have, but don't like to admit to. Millenials don't seem to be suffering from the after effects of political correctness, and appear to be just embracing social media and are being true to themselves without fear of repercussion. After all how much repercussion can there possibly be if everyone is doing it? A bit deep for you? Let me explain.
Why was/is Facebook successful? In my view, because it allows you to check on your friends, old school buddies and most likely your ex girlfriend or boyfriend and essentially see how their life has turned out. Most people probably want to do this because we are nosey by nature, and perhaps want to find out if life has turned out better for us than everyone else. Why is Snapchat successful? Well, in my view because it also brings out the more promiscuous nature of our species, and allows us to flirt or do things we wouldn't ordinarily do if we didn't think that "what happens in Snapchat...stays in Snapchat" (although recent news about leaked pictures might dent this belief). What the Venmo Line discussion made apparent to me, is yet another one of human nature's dirty little secrets....we like to be nosey about other people's finances as well. Think about the concept of "Keeping up with the Joneses". Admit it....don't you want to know what all your friends and colleagues salary/income/net worth is? Haven't you had a friend in the past who simply came out with it and asked how much you earn, or how much you paid for something? Ask yourself, if a spreadsheet containing all the salaries and bonuses of your companies employees got mistakenly emailed to you - would you delete it because "it's the right thing to do" or would you take a sneak peek? I rest my case.
The Venmo Line is just that....millennial's doing what we all want to do, but won't, because we have been conditioned into believing that it's not the done thing. My advice is that if you are trying to think of the next big social media app to launch...then think of the perceived 'darkside' to human nature and simply make it easy to bring it to the masses.