The Snapchat Evolution

Anira Darouichi
Jul 20, 2017 · 5 min read
Snapchat Selfie- https://www.vospsychologues.com/fr/articles/psychologie-coaching/comment-draguer-snapchat-seduire-filles-conseils

Snapchat has been an essential social media platform for most millennials in their everyday lives. We can’t seem to go a day without sending snapchat photos to our friends, especially since streaks are highly valued. From streaks to stories to the latest Snap Map, so many aspects of Snapchat have been woven into the fabric of our lives. For example, Snapchat stories have become an essential part of our social life since they give our friends on Snapchat an idea of what we are doing or what events we are attending. According to an article review on Snapchat statistics entitled, “The 10 Snapchat Statistics Marketers & Advertisers Need To Know In 2017”, Millennials today account for 7 out of 10 Snapchatters. This innovative social media platform is continuing to forge new paths in technology, expanding their app and opening new doors. Snapchat has not only changed the way we share moments with each other, but also the way in which we communicate. Snapchat has instrumentally altered millions of young minds and is responsible for bridging cultural gaps on a global scale.

Snapchat was formed in the Spring of 2011, coming from humble beginnings, the app was developed by three young college students. Two of the students, Reggie Brown and Evan Spiegel, met in the fall of their freshman year at Stanford University. There they developed a friendship and an even closer bond after joining the same Greek life organization. Later that spring, Brown had made a simple statement that introduced the idea of Snapchat organically, “I wish these photos I am sending this girl would disappear.” So, that summer the three college students began working on what became known originally as, Picaboo. This app was created for instant picture messaging, that would conveniently prompt picture disappearance once it was seen by the receiver for a short allotted time.

That fall, with a new name, Snapchat quickly became popular amongst high school students. This social trend started the ball rolling on a broader level, with society as a whole beginning to send pictures through this platform. Users were captivated by this casual and quick way of communication. By creating a nearly instant form of communication, with the extra added bonus of the photo disappearing, this made sending embarrassing or even inappropriate photos easy in that there is no fear of it surfacing somewhere else. Along with this fact, according to the Higher Ed Marketing Journal, it also creates a sense of urgency, meaning that when a snap is opened, the need to quickly send a follow up photo lingers, making the app more fun and keeping users on their toes. In their article, it states

“In order to remember what was said or seen and reply appropriately, the user must reply as soon as they’ve opened it. In effect, these temporary messages take away the ability to dwell and create a more real-time form of communication.”

From here its popularity rapidly grew as the creators began to introduce new features, thus increasing the amount of users. By 2015, there were 2 Billion views and 400 million Snaps posted daily. In 2013, Snapchat’s new feature called “My Story” gained extreme popularity. This feature was found in other social networks as Facebook (as “My Timeline”) or Twitter by sharing the content in Public or in Private. “My Story” became increasingly popular by users and everyone was viewing their friends 24 hour stories. Following “My Story”, the creators of Snapchat came up with another feature called “Live Story”.

Live Story gives users the ability to post into a Live Story feed where they are located from all over the world. Live Story is a way for users to feel as if they were at the location they are viewing thousands of miles away from them. The “Live Story” feature began to unify Snapchat users and raise cultural awareness as users from all over the world were viewing stories from various locations. Alaina Kiesel, a college student at Elon University who discussed about the cultural awareness of Snapchat on the Odyssey says,

The Live Stories expose us to the people and places that we are likely to forget exist while preoccupied living our sudsy everyday lives. It can be hard to have a strong respect and appreciation for a group of people who’s culture you have never truly seen or experienced.

#snapchat has done a great job,They put #mecca_live in live city — Waqar Nhussain on Twitter

Live Story was originally only used for American cities. Due to its demographic, there were large amounts of users in the Middle East, which is where Snapchat moved to next. Snapchat began to raise cultural awareness for Middle Eastern and Islamic culture last summer during the month of Ramadan. The most popular city viewed by Live Story that month was Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Many users were talking about the stories posted. Snapchat users apart of the non-Islamic society were beginning to learn about Islamic culture first hand by practicing Muslims via Live Story. Videos were posted about the city, traditions, food and practices observed during the month of Ramadan. This helped in educating users who didn’t have any knowledge on the Arabic and Islamic culture. This Live Story gained so much popularity that hashtag #Mecca_Live was trending on Twitter. Frida Lundgren Swedish Tufts University, graduate and culture enthusiast, writes in her blog post about this event and its impact. Frida writes,

“Snapchat allowed the non-Islamic world an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the holy city, worshippers and unique religious traditions through individually created messages. The reactions to the Live Story were hugely positive among both Muslims and non-Muslims, all praising Snapchat for their relatable and intimate cultural awareness initiative.”

Stories have changed Snapchat’s original intentions of quick photo messaging to friends, to users sharing their stories and posts to people all over the globe. Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snapchat mentions in his interview with Recode, “Snaps were really about instant expression but stories have shifted us towards accumulation but the default always being instant expression.”

After all these advancements, the amount of Snapchats created each day has increased tremendously since it was first introduced. The use of Snapchat has grown to 2.5 billion snaps created each day. Snapchat’s success does not end here, as creators are continuing to produce new innovations that will keep their users engaged. From the fall of 2011 when Snapchat was used for casual picture messaging, to present day use as an instant messaging and entertainment app, all these advancements have made our world more connected and culturally aware of societies from all over the world.

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