Why Snapchat is becoming the next rising star of social media

【記者隋昀珈報導】In the modern age, social media has become an integral part of our lives, we can’t live without it nor would be willing to survive without it. There are the ones most people are familiar with such as Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, Google Plus, Twitter and many others. However, more and more social media platforms appear on a daily basis and the competition is getting tougher by the minute to stand out among the crowd.

One of the rising stars is snapchat, founded in 2011 by a project design major student named Evan Spiegel. The app was actually first presented to the world as his final class project, back then his classmates dismissed the idea of a sharing app where the photos would automatically be deleted after a standard time period. The app was first launched as an ios-only app but then relaunched two months later and is made available for both android and ios system. Snapchats now has 2 billion photos and videos uploaded and 6 billion video views per day. It is currently ranked the third most popular social media app among millennials, with facebook and Instagram each taking first and second place respectively.

But what is it about the app that gets people excited and hooked, one factor that is truly working in their favor is the fact that we tend to have short attention spans. Most people would rather look at pictures or videos and not read long posts. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”, pictures and videos can tell the whole story and since everybody might have their own interpretation, different definitions can emerge and that in turn can inspire creativity and change, which is plays a big part in the current society.

Also, snapchats has a lot of fun filters and face effects. Add cool glasses, sprout dog ears, make a cartoonish looking selfie of yourself, have a rainbow spill out of your mouth etc. Also, you can add geofilters, take a picture at home and with a few swipes you can post a picture of you tanning on a beautiful beach or having a cup of coffee in Paris. Make it seem like you are on an adventure when you are actually board out of your mind listening to a dull lecture or doing an infinite amount of paperwork at the office.

There is also a messenger system use photos and videos to chat with your friends, once the message is read by the other person it will automatically be deleted. It is actually a good way to protect the user’s privacy, no one can hack your account to steal personal data if there is actually nothing to steal. But on the other hand, if you want to revisit your conversation, the odds are definitely not in your favor.

Another reason the app is gaining popularity is because of their users, a lot of celebrity use it to document their daily lives. For example, a singer might be on tour and might hold an account with a lot of exclusive behind the scenes photos. A lot of reality stars also enjoy using the app, one example would be the Kardashian family who have numerous shows on E! Network. They use the app to document their daily lives and let fans follow their lavish lifestyles. A lot of people actually create an account solely for the purpose of keeping up with their favorite celebrities.

The app has also been the means for random people to meet, a lot of love stories have actually been credited to snapchat. A boy might see a picture of the girl and comment under it, and the story just naturally unfolds by itself. They meet and get to know each other and sooner or later they will post a picture of the new power couple. Not only does love tend to bloom, friendship could also occur. See someone who posts pictures of things you like or enjoy, start chatting and it could be a start of a beautiful friendship.

Few years ago, Facebook offered to but snapchat for 3 billion dollars and the company quickly turned down the offer. The world was baffled back then, but looking back the CEO really did make the right decision. The app is now valued at 15 billion dollars and is the third most popular social media app. With fun functions and effects Snapchat is beloved by its users and is gaining new members every day. Though there is a lot of competition out there, it is proving to be worthy contender that is here to stay for a while.