Snap CEO Evan Spiegel: Facebook can copy our features, but ‘our values are hard to copy’

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has a few things to say about Facebook and the social giant’s decision to copy some of Snapchat’s best features.

1. Thanks, it’s flattering.

2. Copying Snapchat’s most popular features doesn’t mean Facebook will win the war between the two companies.

“Snapchat is not just a bunch of features, it has an underlying philosophy that really runs counter to traditional social media,” Spiegel said Tuesday at Recode’s annual Code Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif. “I think that’s why traditional social media feels threatened. Because fundamentally people realize that competing with their friends for ‘Likes’ and attention is kind of unpleasant and really not that great.”

Snapchat doesn’t have “Likes,” and Spiegel has long pushed to make Snapchat a communication platform more than a broadcast platform — it’s a place for your close friends. That is different from Facebook’s social network format, Spiegel argues, which means that even though Facebook can copy Snapchat’s features, Snap can still survive.

“Fundamentally, they’re having a really hard time changing the DNA of their company,” Spiegel added. “And the DNA of their company is all about having people compete with each other online for attention.”

“Our values are hard to copy.”

Watch his full interview below.

Or listen to it on our podcast Recode Decode:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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