Don't know, man. Every time part of the establishment (i.e. everything that's already out there and have already made a name for themselves) tries to reach out for the younger crowd it makes itself more démodé, not less so.
I've never used Snapchat, though. So I don't know whether this is cool or uncool by their community's standards.
That's not true, you just notice it when it goes poorly. PayPal bought Venmo and it's still doing great with the "younger crowd". The Washington Post seems to be doing well with young people after moving their focus to digital and mobile distribution. For Snapchat specifically, people love DJ Khaled and Arnold Schwarzenegger on there, and they were already plenty established before Snapchat.
This move by NBC is not intrinsically cool or uncool, it just depends how they execute it.
I use Snapchat, there are many stories from natgeo, vice, mashable, etc. So this seems like quite a natural progression for some other news sites. At least they’re trying to stay relevant.
Edit:
Just watched it: there’s a new section in Snapchat called shows, and it seems to be differentiated from stories. The show is extremely short and vapid, but still entertaining. What more can you expect from the low attention span of Snapchat users themselves?
I think there's probably a right way to do it and a wrong way. You may be right in that if there's a wrong way to do it, old-timers like NBC would find it.
The NYTimes has absolutely been able to adapt to the digital age successfully, so why can't any other news organization. The trick is to remove any executives who are afraid of change rather than embracing it.
I've never used Snapchat, though. So I don't know whether this is cool or uncool by their community's standards.