Snapchat

What’s the first thing you think of when someone says the word “ghost”? I think of the word Snapchat. The app that hit the App Store by storm. Almost every teenager in the world has downloaded one of social media’s greatest inventions.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a picture sending service used among teenagers-although some adults have taken a liking to it too- to send funny, quirky pictures to their friends. What once was just an extremely basic form of communication, has turned into a “cult” among all social media lovers.

Best Friends List

One of Snapchat’s oldest, most popular features is the best friends list. It’s the hierarchal race between all the people you snap the most. The list originally featured your top three, most snapchatted people. This was shown to everyone that was friends with you on the app but after numerous updates, the app now privately shows you your top eight. There’s nothing special about your best friends list, it’s just an easy way to send quick snaps to the people you talk to most.

Lenses and Filters

While Snapchat is just a picture taking service, they wanted their users to have a little more fun with it so they rolled out with lenses or filters; whatever you prefer to call them. The filters are fun animations or pictures that take over your screen or face and make your picture more unique. For example, the most popular one would be the dog filter. Just as it sounds, you turn into a cute puppy with the ears, nose, and tongue added to your face for effect. Snapchat is always coming out with new ideas for the filters and is constantly adding new ones for users to try out. If a filter is extremely popular it will not disappear with the ones that aren’t as used. Snapchat usually gives users about a week to try out all the new filters before making their decision on what stays and what goes.

Streaks

Everybody’s favourite thing to do and also the biggest headache. Streaks are nothing more than a number underneath the names of your friends. The number shows how many days you consecutively snap your friends. Your streak will appear after three days of snapping your friend and of course, that little number will be a three. The numbers can go as high as you like as long as you don’t lose the streak.

As much as streaks are stressful, they seem to be one of the most addicting things about the app. You and your friend must snap each other in a 24-hour time period otherwise the streak will disappear. When the app first launched, streaks didn’t even exist. New updates and ideas brought streaks into effect and now they single-handedly drive users to pick up their phone’s every morning to check how things are going. Recently, Snapchat introduced “timers.” They appear when your streak is close to ending and it pushes the user to race to keep it, especially if the streak is high.

The Map

Snapchat also recently introduced the map. A feature that created a huge amount of backlash. The map is a way to see your friend’s locations and what they are up to. A lot of parents were very concerned because of the dangers associated with this. Snapchat was quick to ensure all users that it was, in fact, safe and that they had the option to turn off their location if they were felt uncomfortable. The map is a cool way to see what your friends are doing and also view little news updates from all around the world. While it’s not for everyone, you do have the option to use it however you see fit.

My Opinion

I would give this app a 9/10. I personally use it every single day and while it’s a super fun way to communicate with friends, there are some things that could definitely be improved. A big one would be the new platform and unnecessary updates. Snapchat is known to update their software without a lot of warning and this can be incredibly frustrating and difficult for new users. My suggestion would be, if they do want to update the software, they should add a virtual tour so that users know where everything is and they don’t feel like their missing out on some of the features or experiences. Another problem would be the option to change usernames. Most teenagers made Snapchat when they were in elementary school or middle school. You can imagine what kind of funny or odd names you made to create a username. Most social media platforms understand this and offer a chance to change your username if you’ve grown out of your old one. Snapchat is late to the game. I personally would love to see this change so that I can match all my social media handles together.

Written by Alexis Kelly