Social media has taken over the way we live, being an essential to our day to day life. If you are active across the social media platforms available today, you must already know about Snapchat.
Snapchat is a very successful app where all its users are capable of sending messages, photos and videos called snaps. Snapchat was initially made for one to one conversations, but has recently been growing as an app where you can express yourself in many ways such as bitmoji, stories and messaging.Snapchat was created in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Before Snapchat was called Snapchat, the initial release was first called Picaboo.If you download the Snapchat app and try to use it, you may wonder how the heck the Snapchat app works, well it’s a very simplistic app, but can also be confusing to use when you open it up for the first time. Making an accountAfter you have downloaded the app and os now in the app you can now sign up.
At the start, it has a login and sign up option. If you already have an account you can press log in but if you do not yet you can press sign up. Once you press sign up, it asks for your first and last name.
After registering this, you are now required to put your birthday. After this, you now have to pick a username. This name is what other people will add you by. And then after this, you now have to create a password.
You then have to add your email and verify it. Adding your phone number is optional.Find and add friends To add friends on Snapchat, you have tap Add Friends on the screen of your profile. You can then search for friends by typing their username or scanning their unique snap code.Create your first snapWhen you first open Snapchat, it will take you automatically to its camera. From there, you can either tap the circle which takes a photo or hold it which takes a video. If you want to use filters you just hold anywhere on the screen and the filter will come up. Once you do this you can also spice up your snaps by adding doodles, gifs, texts, and emojisHow to adjust the time limitAn important feature of Snapchat is the fact that videos and pictures only last for a maximum amount of 10 seconds.
You can adjust the time up from 1 to 10 seconds even to infinity by pressing the timer button on the right.How to save your snapsSnapchat is known for its 24-hour rule, once you take a snap and send it to your story, it will be gone after 24 hours, but If you want to save your snap before you send it or it goes away, you can save it to ‘Memories.’ Memories is a collection of snaps that you have created and saved.Sending your first snapTo send a snap, you have to take a picture or a video and then press the blue button with the arrow on it. After pressing it, you can choose anyone to send it to.Considering Snapchat’s minimum age for a person to use the app is 13, I would think that it’s target audience are people who are over 13 years old.
Even though this is the minimum age to use the app, the age demographic of people using Snapchat can range from the age of 6 – 65+ according to research. The app is particularly popular with teens and millennials as a study from the Statistics Portal found that Snapchat is populated by young people with at least 60 percent of its users being in their teens and 20’s. This is because Snapchat is unique from other social medias and offers many cool features that get teenagers to take part in, such as streaks and bitmoji.Snapchat is and will continue to be popular as it is very easy to use. It also is very unique with man y cool feature. Unlike other social medias like Instagram, facebook, and twitter, the first thing you see when you open Snapchat isn’t a massive feed of information.
It’s a camera. This is what makes Snapchat so likeable and popular among people and its users. The whole idea of Snapchat is to create content for your followers and friends to see using its feature stories or its one to one conversations. It also is very ephemeral, Snapchat is an app that you can use every day, anywhere and anytime. You can take moments in your day whether it seems decent or not. This is why many people like it because it does not last forever.
It is not like other social medias where you fake your post because its what you want your followers to see.Snapchat is basically an authentic version of other social medias like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Snapchat removes that pressure, as a person’s post are not on display to the world, but only to their friends and followers. Only friends see and can only respond to your posts. And since it does not include a feature where you can rate people’s post or comment on other people photos, it allows the user to feel less anxious about what other people think about what they post. Overall it is a fun app to use that includes many features that other social medias don’t have.
When you first open the app you are introduced to the login/sign up screen, which basically consist of the Snapchat logo which is a ghost and a yellow background along with the choices of login and sign up. Once you log in, it leads you to the camera of Snapchat. On the edges of the camera are icons which you can press to go to other features of the app or you can swipe left or right. If you swipe left, it leads you to ‘friends,’ where you can chat with your friends privately or in group chats. Each of the friends has a face next to their name which is the bitmoji that they themselves have created. From the camera, if you swipe right, you go to ‘stories,’ where you can share pictures and videos to your followers and friends and where you can view other people’s stories.
You can also view your subscriptions, and view their stories. From the camera page, if you press your bitmoji it leads you to your profile. In your profile you can see who your friends are, you can add friends and see your trophies. On the top right of this page there is a settings icon, once you press it, it allows you to edit your information. The colours mostly used for the format, are white, blue, yellow and purple.After you have downloaded the app and is now in the app you can now sign up.
At the start, it has a login and sign up option. If you already have an account you can press log in but if you do not yet you can press sign up. Once you press sign up, it asks for your first and last name. After registering this, you are now required to put your birthday.
After this, you now have to pick a username. This name is what other people will add you by. And then after this, you now have to create a password.
You then have to add your email and verify it. Adding your phone number is optional.Snapchat does not ask that much information about you, the only things that are asked for you to add are your name and birthday. You can also add your email and number to make sure that you have control over your passwords, but these are optional.Like all Social medias, Snapchat has it negatives sites, and is the basically the same with all other social medias, like cyberbullying, predators, peer pressure and even sexting. Although it also has its positive side.
Such as; it’s a great way to communicate and share your creations, bonding with peers and overall its just fun.Some other social medias that are targeted towards teenagers are Instagram, Twitter and maybe even Facebook. They appeal to teenagers, because like Snapchat they are all unique to each other and have some awesome feature to engage them. Overall social media is popular with teens because it allows them to express their thoughts and ideas and are able to share their experiences with their friends, family and the world.I believe that social media platforms will continue to grow because we live in an age where we are surrounded by technology.
It will grow in both positive and negative ways and will impact many generations to come.
