Add to the list of up and coming social media trends: Snap chat.
According to their website, “Snapchat is a new way to share moments with friends. Snap an ugly selfie or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). They’ll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears.
The image might be a little grainy, and you may not look your best, but that’s the point. It’s about the moment, a connection between friends, and not just a pretty picture” (snapchat.com)
I have just recently become acquainted with this new app available on iPhone and Android and got to admit that I am hooked. I almost prefer sending a Snapchat instead of a text now.
Snap chat is a quirky way to picture message with the added suspense of only being able to view the photo more up to 10 seconds or less. It allows you to capture or video a moment and instantly share it with your followers.
Now, we’ve all heard of the controversy that follows snap chat: the screen shot.
There is a lot of talk about what to do about users taking screen shots of photos once they’ve been sent which defeats the purpose of the timer on the photo. Luckily, Snapchat did create a feature that detects when someone screen shots a snap but after that happens it a little too late.
Still, though there is that risk, Snapchat has been rising in the charts of social media usage. This app is mainly used my pre-teens and teenagers. They are simply a more visual generation that want to share pictures rather than text or tweet words.
Snapchat provides users the opportunity to share a brief moment in time with their friends and then it self destructs. My question is: Will brands and organizations be able to utilize this new social media tool?
It seems every form of social media can be catered to benefit an organizations constant relationship building agenda but where does Snapchat fit into this?
Did smartphone users actually find a way to prevent brands from infiltrating this aspect of social media?
How do you think brands could or will use Snapchat to better their image? Do you think it is possible?
Jessica Colbert 