Snapchat has taken the world over slowly but surely. From being something that no one ever really talked about, it is now a world phenomenon. People from all over the country are pouring in stories. Even companies are using the hell out of it to market their products and services. It is an app where the user can send a picture or video lasting up to 10 seconds. Just 10! Why is that such a big deal?!
A YouTuber that goes by the username of Mashable explain a lot of different reasons why people like Snapchat so much. I found this really interesting, and I think you will find some of the facts fascinating too!
Here is the video…
Why we love Snapshot so much!
1. Simplicity. It is so simple, we just take a picture or video and send it. Vine is so complicated, people edit things, and make overnight hits. Here we just take a candid video and send it out to whomever.
2. People get to be themselves. Since people’s pictures or videos are going to viewed for 10 seconds (or less) they can do whatever the hell they want to do. They can make whatever face they want to make. After the time is over, the picture or video has disappeared forever.
3. The most interesting fact I got from this is how Snapchat lessens the stress about performances on social media. To explain, when you put a picture on Facebook, we always like to see who liked it, and how many people liked it. If we don’t get as many likes, we might get self conscious about the picture. On Snapchat, no one knows how many followers you have. They have no clue how many views you are getting.
I am going to the topic about how we crave for attention on these social media sites. People put videos and so much content out their for the world to see. I feel like its because we want the world to know what we are doing. We want the world to know how hard we are working.
I think it would be interesting to see a study of how avid Snapchat users handle their lives with no Snapchat. I find this so interesting because I am obsessed with Snapchat. I am that one friend who posts 30 posts a day! Last year I had to delete it (to focus on school work more) and it was really hard for me. It was weird not talking about my day to a camera, or just sharing things to the people who followed me. Last week I decided to do it again. It wasn’t that bad. I felt weird the first day, but after that, I just didn’t care! I didn’t care what people were posting, I didn’t care to tell people what I was doing. The little things really don’t matter!
But anyways you follow me @Reetud2 I put out great motivational and funny content. (Haha btw I swear I look better in person, that picture was a while ago)
So after that shameless plug, lets get into the observational experiment. I want to have 30 avid Snapchat users. They should be posting about 20 pictures/videos a day. Them using the app is the x variable, which we are then going to manipulate. And hey lets say (from my example) that the y variable could be that people after not being so attached to the app, start to let go, and not care about what their close friends are doing on a daily basis. (now yes, these people do still have other social media platforms, but Snapchat is the only one to really tell you what people are up to 24 hours of the day. I would just then observe what you happen. Would they have withdrawal symptoms like I had last year. Would they crave the need to share a picture of their lunch with the world? Or would they just stop caring. The time for this would be a week. Believe me, that’s a long time. The biggest thing I would want to see out of this is obviously how they dealt with it, but also if people event want to go back to the app. I personally am debating myself, I just don’t see the need to see what other people are doing.
What do you guys think about Snapchat and how it has changed this world? What do you think about people’s obsessions with the app?
COMMENT AND ALSO LEAVE ME YOUR USERNAME!
I’ve actually just recently re-downloaded snapchat because all of my friends use it. When I first had the app several years ago, I didn’t really care for it. I didn’t understand and particularly like the concept of sending meaningless pictures to someone for under ten seconds. Now, I mostly use it for viewing other people’s stories. Snapchat is just another way to stay connected and keep up with everyone’s lives. Also, I have noticed that Snapchat’s recent introduction of filters has gained increasing popularity. People are posting selfies with Snapchat filters on other forms of social media as well (Facebook, Twitter). Here is an article that discusses why teens are drawn to Snapchat over other social media platforms.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/snapchat-still-teens-favorite-should-facebook-fb-worry-cm693411
Im not a huge snapchatter myself, but as a millennial I feel the need to get in the “game” if you will. I feel as if the concept of snapchat is changed by the way the media portrays it. For me, snapchat connects me with friends back home who I do not get to see everyday. Snapchat, without doubt, has become one of the biggest social media tools in the world with over 100 millions users. I did my research and came upon this interesting article about how the media started to realize what Snapchat actually was and the different phases they went through to become affiliated with it. It was a very interesting read considering how much people are influenced by the media and what they have to say. So if you are interested in how Snapchat really came about through the eyes of the media check out this article; http://digg.com/2015/snapchat-history.
I like snapchat because of the stories, but when you think about it, that isn’t even how it started. It started as a way of communication through 10 second pictures. Heres the history of snapchat and how it has evolved https://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-snapchat/. Snapchat stories allow you to know what your friends are doing and also allow you to have some sort of entertainment. One thing that I’ve realized about snapchat that is kind of stupid is that ill be texting someone while I’m also snapchatting them. It’s like we’re having two conversations at once, or sometimes we won’t even be talking about anything on snapchat it’ll just be random pictures.
Great article! I really love talking about social media, mostly because growing up as a millennial I (and you) got to see technology truly evolve. Real quick side note, I find it very funny that I used think I was the coolest person in the world with my pink Razor phone and my “Irreplaceable” (Beyonce) ringtone. Now, my sister is in fifth grade and has an iPhone 6. It’s because of this change in our culture that we so frequently use social media. As for the question of Snapchat, I believe that we “love it” so much because like you said, we have to know exactly what everyone else is doing. That is the “addiction” constantly wanting to be connected with those far away and even those near by. In 12th grade, we had an extra credit opportunity to not use our phones for 3 days and we had to reflect upon that in a paper. That was very difficult for me and if I were to be in this study I definitely would crack easily. I found a research study that had people disconnect from social media as a whole and it could potentially be similar to the results found in your hypothetical study (minus the time difference and the fact it’s all social media not just Snapchat).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-yanes/a-month-without-social-media_b_10119504.html
I personally also love snapchat very much. It’s kinda sad that maintaining my snapchat streaks with people is such a high priority. I think it would be interesting if there was a study done that compared snapchat to other social media forms and how society would act without them. For example, would taking away snapchat or instagram have more of an impact on the people involved in the study. It would also be important to consider variables, like how much work the person has to do that day. Personally for me, when I have a lot of work to do, I like to put my phone away and stay off of all social media. So in that case, in a study, my use of snapchat would significantly decrease.
This is very interesting actually. I have always wondered why we enjoy just sending images/short videos to each other so much. Most of the time, there isn’t even any conversation involved, just picture after picture. Parents have a really difficult time understanding why people use snapchat. Whenever my dad sees me or my sister using snapchat, he always says, “why are you sending pictures of yourself to other people?”. If you put yourself in their perspective, snapchat is actually a very weird concept. Despite the oddness of the concept, I still love snap chatting. Here is an article explaining why teens love snapchat so much. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-reasons-snapchat-teenagers-favourite-social-network/