We all make sacrifices.

For the sake of GoDirect Trade reconnaissance, I am now part of the 150 million+ strong Snapchat community—and not embarrassed to be at the upper age control limits of the typical user profile. Golf clap. Before you say, which app is this again? This is the app where any message you send is only available for a short time before they become inaccessible. As a parent, this just seemed like a backdoor to enable “non-PG” photos to self-destruct automatically for our hoodlum adolescent children! But in the app’s defense, the temporary, or ephemeral, nature of the app is thought to encourage a more natural flow of interaction. Oh, and let’s not forget all the amazing filters (I don’t typically sport a wrinkle-free face with Disney princess eyeballs). All part of Snapchat.

So here is my review.

Given the fact that the community is so large, I assumed that this app had to be uh-maze. Easy to use, easy to send pics, easy to understand. Yeah, not even close. Let me just hone in on the “Create your own woodland animal self-portrait” functionality. Long story short, I got so frustrated because I couldn’t figure it out, that I googled it. And even with googling it, I STILL couldn’t figure it out. My solution? I called my friend’s 13-year-old daughter and she was able to walk me through it. High fives for Nana Lisa. But all jokes aside, I’ve been polling other people who use Snapchat and I’ve asked them point blank, “Given that we’re not all Angela Lansbury, how did you figure out how to use the filters?” Every answer? “Someone showed me.” So there you have it, folks. Snapchat’s bread-and-butter facial filter functionality is passed down by the means in which Moses received the Ten Commandments. Word. Of. Mouth. How is that possible?

Despite the fact that my overall review of the app was that it was, well, confusing, legit Snapchatters obviously don’t care. Oh, how I love the resilience of young people. IMO, Snapchat’s draw is that it’s instantaneous. And don’t we all know how Millennials feel about that. Instant is their oxygen. So for me, the takeaway was: anywhere we can bake in “instant” gratification, we need to. Is the used serviceable material market ready for “no negotiations” and a “Buy now” mentality on sales? Probably not on everything. But maybe on select things, like expendables. We need to push the envelope where we can so that people will start to want more.

Expect more.

Lisa Butters is General Manager of the Honeywell Aerospace GoDirect Trade Greenhouse. A 15-year Honeywell employee, she worked in various Customer & Product Support, Honeywell Operating System, Air Transport & Regional and Information Technology roles before taking her current position in 2018. A self-described “tech geek,” she is obsessed with discovering unidentified needs and desires for customers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisabutters/