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Week 9 [05.12 - 11.12] Snapchat phenomenon


Snapchat lets you send pictures and videos only visible for a few seconds. Okay, but why is this necessary? We already have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,  where we can also share our photos and we have a lot more opportunities to communicate with friends, yet,  Snapchat is so successful in the world.
The most important factor that made Snapchat so successful is the fact that the content you publish disappears after 24 hours. We see things happening now,  not videos from holiday which were 5 months ago. Our photos do not have to be perfectly cropped or super sharp, we can just post videos and pictures in any quantity, because everything will disappear after 24 hours. Another reason is lack of comments, likes and this whole quest for fame. We do not see how many people have seen our picture or video. Also, nobody can find us unless you give him your name/nickname. So if your parents signed up, and you do not necessarily want to show them pictures of the last evening party, but you still want to share them with your friends, Snapchat is a perfect place for you.
Its creators are ordinary users who want to send messages who  do not want them to be stored. They hope that it is the safest way to send private material. But as history has shown, this data does not disappear.

One example might be a Playboy model Dani Mathers, who posted photos of a naked woman in the gym, with the caption: 'If I cannot unsee this, then you cannot either’. For insulting a woman, a model can be sentenced to a fine of $ 1,000 and six months in prison. Immediately after this incident, the model was forbidden to use any gym in Los Angeles.

Another reason Snapchat will become even more popular is his first physical product - Spectacles. These are glasses with a camera. Probably you will think "the next Google Glass". Well, no. First, their appearance does not turn people into cyborgs as in the case of the above-mentioned Google Glass, can be worn on a daily basis. Another advantage of these glasses is a visible camera. People reacted with hostility to the Google Glass because then they did not know whether they are recorded. However, in the glasses from Snapchat the light switches on during recording. These films will differ from those recorded by phone because they will be round. The price of these glasses is about $ 130.
Below you can find a movie that more or less will show how it is supposed to look like.

Do you use  Snapchat? What made you install or uninstall this application? Have you had any interesting adventure with Snapchat that you can tell us about? When you installed Snapchat what was your first impression? What do you think about the idea of glasses for Snapchat?

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Comments

Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I don't have got snapchat, but by looking at my friends I can say its a thing, but I have got no idea why. Actually, sometimes it makes me angry. For example, at the concert, girl stood right before me just to snap a part of it and... left. So she bothered me and people behind me just to snap a concert, she didn't want to watch/listen to. This is weird. And I don't understand the phenomenon of this app. Photographing everything, everywhere. I don't understand idea of posting 50 photos a day, but weirder is looking at all of those photos.
Dajana Kubica said…
I think this is a new trend, where everything must be captured in pictures to show your friends what you are doing now. At Snapchat usually are sent videos / images, which have no meaning or value. Apparently for this girl gig was not interesting, and wanted only boast that she is is there :).
Kacper Zaremba said…
I use Snapchat and really enjoy using that application. I use it mostly to text my close friends or send them pictures which are not good enough for posting them on Instagram or Facebook. The thing I enjoy most about using Snapchat is that people can’t access your old posts. I have some friends on Facebook that like to dig through their friends timelines and find some embarassing posts from 2010 or older only to ‚like’ them or comment on them. On Snapchat everything is gone after 24 hours, at least Snapchat says so ;)
Sylwia Pechcin said…
Personally I use Snapchat. I have installed it about three years ago, because everyone was talking about it and I wanted to know what is going on with this whole app. I know many of people who was saying "what a ridiculous idea, it doesn't make sense" and then start using Snapchat very often, and so did I :P My first impression was that this app makes no sense and it's useless, but then I started using it for fun. Now I do not send photos very often, but sometimes when I'm bored I watch Snaps of my friends.
Piotr Basiński said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Piotr Basiński said…
My first impression after read about this glasses is it's cool. In my opinion many snapchat users will buy and use them. Glasses will even expand popularity of snapchat. In my own I used snapchat in the past for a few months. I rather don't have time for using it on daily basics so I unistall that app. But it's good communication app.
Dajana Kubica said…
My history with Snapchat was similar. For a time, I sent so many pictures so that the battery in my phone, after 2 hours, was equal to zero. Now I use it once a week.
Dajana Kubica said…
I'm looking forward to these glasses, just to try them out. However, the price is far too high. Maybe after the new year, prices will drop.
Unknown said…
I installed snapchat long time ago. Just to try it out. I haven't uninstalled yet, despite not using it. Why? Probably I'm too lazy.

In my opinion, snapchat is very good idea for application. A lot of people use it sending different types of photos. Nowadays talking about privacy (and being secure) is number one. Have a look at number of posts (and comments) about privacy, Google, Facebook etc. on this blog. We talk about it all the time. People just want to be safe. They love privacy. That's why they use snapchat. They believe that their message will be damaged after opening. Is it true? Of course not (as you, Dajana, wrote), but they don't know (or think) about it. They stop thinking on statement "Is it possible to open it again? No, so I'm safe". That's why, I consider snapchat as perfect idea.

Of course, some people use it to send jokes, simple information, normal photos and so on. They are still safe. But others use it to send something confidential and the Internet doesn't forget. We saw many snapchat-scandals.

I heard about glasses, but haven't used it. I'm not a fan of snapchat nor I have too much money ;)
Unknown said…
I never had snapchat. It is so shitty aplication, why would I install it. I can send photos in facebook messanger an it works just like snapchat. I think that idea of these glasses is not as good as it looks like, because i don't have full controll of how the photo will look like, but with some improvements it could be a very useful gadget.
Dajana Kubica said…
When I installed this application, also I did not use it, but now I communicate with friends only through Snapchat or messenger. Perhaps one day you gonna get also Snapchat fever :).
Dajana Kubica said…
I do not agree that Snapchat is shitty. The idea of Snapchat is completely different than the Messenger and I noticed that a lot of people just do not understand this and think Snapchat is pointless application. Note that the Messenger and Instagram introduced exactly the same options as Snapchat - sharing photos for only 24h. Giants follow in the footsteps of Snapchat, so perhaps statement that this app is shitty is hasty.
Unknown said…
In any other messaging app, you'd think it was a bug in the software. Moments after you send or receive a photograph or video clip on Snapchat, it disappears – permanently. Yet this simple twist on picture-messaging has made Snapchat a phenomenon.

I do not use Snapchat, but it has definitely a lots of advantages (especially for brands, why? A good way to reach the younger ones is with Snapchat. They are all the day using it! Therefore, more and more brands use this social network.), for example:
1) Snapchat is Any brand can share news quickly with a click, and users will see it when it is published. You can keep your client informed about what you are doing in that very moment.
2) Another advantage of this app is that you can use it to answer quickly and concisely to any client, with a close relationship that is not always easy to achieve.
Unknown said…
I don't use snapchat, beacuse for me content published by people in this application is mostly valueless. Instagram recently introduced at similar tool and I think it will fall Snapchat, because we have two popular tools in one. The assumption that something is published for 24 hours causes people to throw things they normally wouldn't have published. They don't care that what they show is stupid, because that will disappear. I really don't like this app and I never install it.
Unknown said…
I haven't even been sure what this Snapchat thing is untill now. I just don't get it. Why would anyone use it? I'm big supporter of technology and science but some social aspects of it are ridiculous.
Unknown said…
I also have doubts about social aspects of this app, why I should send some abysmal photos and in addition only to the firstly added friends, which disappear so quickly. That totally does not make a sense for me. I don't have time to waste it that way for having a look at useless photos of my friends.
Dajana Kubica said…
This application was developed in a way to waste time. This application gives us only a slightly different form of communication with friends and does not have a deeper meaning, and yet it has of millions of users around the world.
Dajana Kubica said…
You're right, a lot of companies use it in their marketing activities. If you want to see some advertising that YOU decide about this, and we are not inundated with thousands of images of companies that advertise their products eg. Facebook or Instagram, while through photos and posts from your friends random ads pops up.
Unknown said…
I installed snapchat because a lot of my friends already had it before and showed me how does it work, and I liked the idea. Especially because it was right before my big trip - I thought it is the best way to send instantly my memories to my friends. It is just another application to loose your time, but it is funny and entertains me a lot sometimes.
Maciej Główka said…
I have snapchat, however i have maybe only 4 or 5 friends on it. I think its design is a bit chaotic, I had problems to find every snapchat feature for first few days. I use it to send my closest friends things, that are too big or too stupid to post or send them on facebook.
I think it is quite cool that you can only buy Spectacles in special vending machine, which travels all around USA. It stays in one place for a short period of time, so it is quite hard to get a pair of Snapchat glasses. That's why you can find them on ebay for double the stock price. I'm curious what will be the future of Snapchat and Spectacles.
Maybe i am to old for that but i really can not understand why this application is so popular. It is very hard to use - UX & UI is one of the worst i see on mobile applications and principles are also weird. To be honest i really want to ban this type of application in Poland because it really hit with privacy and in some places it is really annoying while still being recorded.
Ihor Ahnianikov said…
I have never used Snapchat, but after your article I finally get why it's so popular. I guess everybody got tired from refining photos and keeping the Instagram collection "clear", posting real life photos and videos without any changes is actually better. Recently Instagram cloned one of the Snapchat features and called it "stories", it's more interesting than viewing the regular Instagram feed where everything is perfectly edited.
I once had a snapchat - I wasn't an active user, I usually watched videos and pictures which my friends sent. For me, application was annoying, so I unistalled it. I really prefer the old way to share pictures with each others.
Michał Pycek said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michał Pycek said…
I do not use snapchat, facebook, instagram or any type of this social media. I only use twitter, so I can be updated regarding the current issues or hot topics in the social, politic and economy life. My fiance has downloaded snapchat so she can get in touch with her friends from previous job or studies etc. She shows me sometimes how addictive it can get when people posts something every hours and use such a tool not only for contact but to actually flood others lives with what they are up to. It is not really for me and I don't find it interesting to post one's life online
Jarek_Ziem said…
Snapchat is quite useful tool if you want to keep your friends notified about your life. It has created in us need to share almost every moment of our lives with our friends and society. Before snapchat there was no such need, no one even thought about it and now we do not imagine world and our lives without it. There are still many individuals who doesn’t use it but they are all being photographed by some of their friends or filmed on a few occasions. Glasses for snapchat sound ridiculous but we know that if they will promote it in specific way and create need in the minds of people they will sell it easily.
I use snapchat almost every day, I downloaded this app around 4 years ago and I’ve been using it to this day. What I love about snapchat is the possibility to share your ‘snaps’ with selected friends and that my photos will disappear few seconds after my friend opens my ‘snap’. Since I started using Snapchat I rarely post any photos on Facebook or on my Instagram because I don’t have to worry about quality of my photos or who will see them. The other think that I love about snapchat is that you can watch snaps from celebrities such as actors and musicians, and see their everyday life, not the perfect one posted on facebook.
Unknown said…
Personally, I use snapchat. This is another way to communicate. Everything happens in your application, it’s live and happens at real time, that's so good. This is a new way on a social networking site. Snpachat developed very fast and i think that in the future it will replace facebook. In addition, the application has different, funny, interactive things which can be applied on the face, for example, a dog with ears. 
I don't use Snapchat myself but I can understand why others do. We like to share photos and Snapchat enables us to take them quick and immediately send them. Plus you can make short videos. I guess it also went so popular since celebrities use it. People love to see what celebrities are like offstage.
I've never used Snapchat and I probably never will. To me it's yet another Facebook-like social network that could potentially waste my precious time. Also, I don't believe that the data you upload to this service will eventually be deleted. It is most likely stored somewhere without your knowledge.
I think it's way more important to meet with real people instead of following the virtual ones.
Unknown said…
To be honest I have joined snapchat family few days ago. In my opinion this application has a big potential. You can easily communicate with your friends via short films or photos. Is there anything nicer than photos of a smiling friend to start your day :) ? So far I am really enjoy with this app and I can confidently recommend it to my friends.
Dajana Kubica said…
A lot of my friends upload one photo on Facebook and Instagram, while on Snapchat publish every moment showing what they do on the trip. I consider it a great form of report from an event. Much more it falls to my liking than the millions of images on Facebook showering my entire wall.
Dajana Kubica said…
I think that these glasses will dominate the world of Snapachat. I saw a lot of famous people promoting it on social networks. I also want to buy Spectacles, because I use the Snapchat more than the Messenger, in addition glasses appear is quite nice.
Dajana Kubica said…
Messenger also introduced such an option :)
kondrat said…
Short lasting photos are true as long as your recipient uses unmodified software. Unfortunately after iOS is jailbroken, or android rooted- user can install software which silently copies received pics :(

The second thing is taking screenshots, but sender gets notified when other person cheats :)
I use Snapchat for over a year. I watch snaps sent by my friends every day, but I rarely send my own pictures/movies. Since I installed the app I've sent maybe 4 or 5 snaps, so my friends joke that we should somehow celebrate each of them. While I like the idea of Snapchat, it is annoying when similiar functionality is forcefully put in another apps like Messenger.
Unknown said…
I have used Snapchat only one-sided. I was "subscribed" for some people whose life is interested for me and watched videos and pictures they shared. For some time it was fun, but after a while it gets annoying. Maybe it's because of luck of actions from my side, I don't know, but after some time using it, I uninstalled Snapchat. Don't see a reason of using it when we already have Instagram and other social networks.
Personally, I don't like Snapchat Glasses concept. People will look for something funny or weird for film, but not around what might cause some accidents.
There are also "stars" of Snapchat whose videos are on Youtube. And still everyone can make a screenshot of the picture what means that it won't really disappear after 24 hours.
I don't use it, I find it entirely useless for myself, as a bit timesink making people unproductive social "zombies" :). Facebook has similar problem, but it at least has some strong points such as keeping in touch with people in smaller and bigger groups, or messaging - it's hard to consider Snapchat as one.

But I don't say bad things about people that do use it, I simply couldn't care less, I find it entirely useless for myself, as I have more interesting things to do than wasting time watching other peoples' videos and pictures :).
Unknown said…
For me its fine when someone want to share your interests and for example someone went to the concert and want to tell your friends about it and show part of this event. But the only part. I agree with you, its annoying when someone hold his hand above for 10 minutes and interrupt other people having fun on the concert.
To be true - never used it. I've heard about it many times but never had the time to install and use it. But I promise to do it next year just to check it out. And also Tinder is on my list to see how it works :) Good example with a Playboy model how not to use it.. but still penalty is too be big as I think about it.
Unknown said…
Oh, come on! If somebody would like to save your "disappearing" photo or video they could always make a screenshot or to record it with another device. This makes the idea pointless. I don't to want to offend anyone, that's why I will just say that for me it's better to use FB or Instagram. If I want to share something with my friends, we can make a group chat in FB messenger. Or to send it directly.

And the most annoying thing about Snapchat is their filter with dog face, which some people add to their photos and then post this pics in Insta. I hate it, please leave your snapchat stuff to your snapchat followers;))
KamilG said…
I have snapchat, but rarely use it. but my friend is a big fan of this application tells me that "from your own home can follow the life of the stars" and what her really like that it was these celebrities show, where they eat, what they eat, what they are doing. Snapchat for her is also a source of information as what her friends do. She also told me that she likes to share with others what she does during the day. As for the glasses, I think that's a cool thing.
Unknown said…
Snapchat is a very interesting tool for social media. Few years ago, when I first met this application I thought it is only silly messaging app to send pictures, which after a few seconds disappear. A lot of my friends have used it and I looked at it all with reserve. In the end I installed it myself and even though I rarely use it in the end I realized how powerful it is and how it changed the way of communication. Those glasses, Snapchat Spectacles, which Snap Inc. released few month ago, through which we can quickly record something from the perspective of our point of view are really cool. Snapchat is the future and that is why companies such as Facebook desperately trying to imitate it. The Spectacles showed how it should be done with modern multimedia and interactive glasses that obviously do not have such capabilities as Google Glass, but I think that this is a matter of time, to become similar and much better device.
Unknown said…
Then I really preffer to waste my time by direct communication with my friends or by something little more complex like video games.
Unknown said…
I like Snapchat and I used to use it, but now I prefer Instagram witch gives me a similar option. From what I know, both on Snapchat and on InstaStories you can check how many people saw your picture (and who exactly) and how many people saved it to their phones. In both applications have the ability to contact other people. It's not the same thing as leaving a comment under the photo, you can write to someone at any moment and send him a private photo.
I think that Snapchat became popular and liked in short time, because it has a relaxed atmosphere and you can publish anything you want there and nobody will mind. For example, pictures of food are already passe on Facebook, but there's space for them on Snapchat. There ia also a convenient option of sending private messages to someone or sharing your photos with everybody. Snapchat also has a lot of funny filters, people still like to see how their face looks as a toast with butter.
It's also worth mentioning that Snapchat or InstaStories are great applications for businesses. If we publish something everyday, we can build a special relationship with our clients. You can show them the production process and everyday life in your company. It is especially beneficial for young artists, small businesses and freelancers.

Coming back to your questions - I have a Snapchat, but now I publish only on InstaStories. After installing Snapchat my first impression was pretty bad, I didn't know witch button did what. As for the Snapchat Glasses I heard about them for the first time today. They don't look too pretty but maybe they will be useful for creating interesting stories.
OlaScislewska said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
OlaScislewska said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
OlaScislewska said…

Somehow I even understand phenomenon of snapchat I can imagine that i would use it if i was younger. Now I try to reduce time that I spend on using my phone so i dont download any new aplications. I see that people around me are my focus on virtual world than on reality and i try to not be one of them.

The next downside of snapchat That is a fact we can call this another app "Thief of Time". We spend our invaluable time watching some videos from life of other people and it gives us nothing. We already use facebook, instagram etc what are the same - I would even say - addictive apps so we should consider if we really need That at all.

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