Dear Crabby, What is Snapchat?

Dear Crabby, What is Snapchat?

Sincerely, Pop Crackle

 

Dear Pop,

When I first heard about Snapchat, I thought it was a form of communication where people would “snap” their fingers to talk back and forth. But that wasn’t it. Then, I heard that young people were using it – so I thought it meant a quick conversation that didn’t say much – I was getting closer. As it turns out, Snapchat is a social media application for use with smartphones.

Dear Crabby sits infront of his laptop

Dear Crabby Gives Advice

It’s primary use is to share photos and videos in a conversational way. You see, most of our social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, were designed for most people to use at their desk, or on a laptop computer. Snapchat is designed to use from a mobile smartphone – in fact, you really have to do EVERYTHING from the phone – so, I’m fairly useless as a user. However, my kids and grandchildren enjoy the app.

“App” is short for application, which is a more common way of referring to a program that a smart mobile device would use. The Snapchat app – or as I like to think of it, the little yellow ghost tool – is an icon that you simply tap to activate. And, as I mentioned, is primarily used to send a quick message (chat) – text, photo, or video (snap) – to someone with an informal feel to it – they have to have the Snapchat app as well.

The user, or “Snapchatter,” then can “Snapback” to the sender to continue the conversation. The use of stickers, filters, and lenses will help the user customize the chat to further that fun and informal feel.

At anytime, should you not understand what I’m talking about – and I barely do – ask a nearby millennial. Especially, because Snapchat is constantly changing the way they do things. When they first started, Snapchats could only be viewable for up to 10 seconds, then the video, photo, and message would vanish, forever (unless a screenshot was made). But now you can set them for unlimited views. “Stories” are the big thing currently. They build a day’s worth of snaps to create your 24-hour story so your connections can view it. And businesses are starting to show up in the “Discover” feature. Welcome advertising.

As of February 2018, Snapchat has 187 million daily active users, but I’m not one of them. Their numbers have slowed and they may have reached their peak. There are parents who have been concerned about it since it launched in 2011. While every new thing has it’s glitches and abuses, for the most part people use Snapchat because it’s fun, it’s that simple, and it’s just another twist to taking selfies.

So, if you want another way to waste time with the excuse that you’re communicating, go right ahead. Or, you could use that smartphone as a phone and call the person … just an idea.

Sincerely, Dear Crabby

About Dear Crabby

Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Read regularly by thousands and loved by some, Dear Crabby answers questions weekly to life's challenges. Send him a note at editor@rochestermedia.com.

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