A college newspaper just ripped apart Snapchat's new Spectacles
The editorial board of IDS News, Indiana University's student newspaper, has taken a strong stance against Snapchat - now named Snap Inc. - and its camera-equipped glasses in a new editorial published on its website.
Titled "Snapchat jumps the shark ... again," the post has some harsh words for the company's latest product, called Spectacles.
Here's how IDS News describes the glasses:
For those who don't know, Cookie is a middle schooler from a Nickelodeon sitcom, while Redfoo was a member of the group LMFAO. Both are known for their distinctive - yet not exactly trendy - glasses.
IDS News goes on to call Spectacles "pretty dorky," and refers to them as both "nerd goggles" and "so-called hipster glasses."
The paper refers to the latest project as "a physical manifestation of Snapchat's struggle to stay relevant and fresh," and calls out the company for some of its fumbles: Snapcash, which lets users send money back and forth, much like Venmo; and its filters that users complained were racially insensitive, like the Bob Marley-themed filter or the so-called "yellowface filter." The paper seems to imply that Snap isn't making products young people like, which runs pretty contrary to what most adults think: that Snapchat is only a tool for Millennials and Generation Z.
While IDS News' opinions are by no means the views of all college students, the fact that Spectacles aren't exactly a hit with them - and that Snap is viewed as a fumbling social app with almost as many misses as hits - isn't a great sign for the company.
You can read the full editorial from IDS News right here.