In the past decade many electronic devices had been released. Many of them had their time in the spot light, but one device made its debut and just hasn’t left that spot light yet. The iPhone was created by the company Apple, and since its release people have found more and more uses for it. These uses were created because of the invention of apps or applications, which are programs that can be used for certain purposes. Now in our modern time most people have found the iPhone as a necessity when using any social media application, looking at a GPS, finding out random information, and even as an alarm clock. One of the most popular applications around at the moment is Snap Chat, which is a semi-new form of social media.
The application Snap Chat was created in September of 2011 by a group of Stanford university students. To set up an account the potential user must download the application from the app story. When the application is downloaded the user chooses the option “Make an Account”. Once this option is chosen the application requires very basic information such as a user name and password. After making an account the user is able to find friends by either searching for their friend’s whole name, or their friend’s user name. In the application users are able to take a photo or video of anything they would like. Once this photo or video is taken they are able to use a maximum of thirty three characters to write a description of the photo or video. Also, users are able to use a doodle option where they can draw over their photo or video. After this is done, the user is able to choose how long they want their friends to see their photo after they send it. They have the option between one to ten seconds. When it comes to a persons friends list, every person has their average friends and then up to at least three best friends. These friends are defined as “best” because they are the people a person send pictures and videos to the most or vice versa. Once a photo or video is received the user receives a notification of who the snap is from and a colored box (red for a photo and purple for a video).
Most recently there has been a new feature added called “My Story” where a user is able to post a snap and allow every person on their friends list to see it for up to twenty four hours. Using the “My Story” option a person is able to make a slide show like presentation with all the snaps they choose to include in it throughout their day. How to make a story is just taking a normal snap. Once the snap is taken a person would go to their friends list. When they get to the friends list they are able to choose the first option at the top, which is “My Story”. After choosing this option the snap will be sent to a person’s story for all their friends for twenty four hours. To access a friends story a person would need to go to their friends list. Once at their friends list they are able to know if a friend has a story by seeing a circle icon next to the friend’s name.
Snap Chat is directed towards no direct audience. The application can be used by any one of any age with a smart phone that can actually access it. Though there is no direct audience, Snap Chats largest group of users are mainly people from ages ten to twenty five but, since there is no one direct audience, the purposes for Snap Chat are endless.
Though purposes for Snap Chat are endless, every person uses the application for different reasons. One purpose for snap chat is comedy. In certain situations a person may enjoy sending their friends a funny photo or video. A second purpose for the app is to update friends on what a person is doing or where they are in a certain moment. For example, if some one was at a concert they would be able to take a photo or video of it and send it to their friends to let them see what they’re up to. A last purpose of snap chat is confronting people. At times some one may want to address a situation and instead of sending a text that can be saved and seen forever, they send a snap chat to tell a person how they are feeling. Even though three different purposes were mentioned snap chat can also be used for many other purposes, such as having a conversation with a friend. Other purposes depending on the age can be very obvious and inappropriate but, as said before the purposes are endless.
Overall, Snap Chat is an application that enables people to send their friends photos or videos that are shown for up to ten seconds. They can also send their snaps to their story and have them viewed by their friends for the entirety of the day. The app can be used by anyone in any age group.
People can use the app how ever they see fit. In the end, because of its large audience and extensive amount of purposes, Snap Chat is one of the most popular applications of social media.
