News Imitating Product - The Facebook Snapchat Deal That Wasn't and Amazon's Power Plays

Last week, we found out Snapchat turned down Facebook's $3 billion offer. So far there's been plenty of analysis on why both companies did what they did, but I find it fitting that this rejected deal for an app based in quickly viewing then losing images forever is getting more attention than Amazon's moves based in keeping images and other data around permanently.The two stories embody the products themselves. The Snapchat to Facebook deal was entertained for a short amount of time (could be considered ephemeral), that was sexy enough to make headlines — "Facebook trying to stem the tide of teenage user abandonment" and "Snapchat now valued at $4 billion." Amazon made a few power plays with Amazon WorkSpace, Cloudtrail, and Kinesis. With it's sexiness and the deal being rejected the Facebook offer played out like a Snapchat message that was sent to the wrong person, captured as a screenshot, and spread like wildfire. On the other hand, Amazon's moves, which are sure to have a much bigger impact across more industries than the rejected deal ever could, are about tracking copious amounts of data easily and seem bland by comparison. The products, and therefore stories, match the unglamorous work files, live data feeds, and information meant to last that the products are made for.Maybe I'm letting the remnants of my English major drive me too far into the meta, but I can't remember another time that news coverage and reaction embodied the stories so well.