Why I Am Choosing Snapchat Over Facebook
There’s been an alarming trend on my Facebook feed. Jessica has shared Buzzfeed’s video. Michael has shared a Bleacher Report article. Devin has shared [random name]’s post.
Facebook has become a breeding ground for sharing viral content.
It’s not the act of sharing viral content that has me upset and cheating on Facebook for Snapchat, but I feel so much less connected to my friends on Facebook.
In most instances when a Facebook friend shares a post, they don’t offer anything beyond just sharing the post itself. In essence, they let these shared posts do the talking for them. There’s a level of communication removed when that happens. Most of the time you can assume your friend is sharing something they think is funny, or cute, or interesting, but there’s something lacking.
Originality.
And that is why I love Snapchat. Snapchat (specifically Snapchat’s Story feature) better captures personality, and real moments of your friend’s day. With Snapchat, users are taking photos and videos on their own phone, meaning most to all of the content is their own unless their friend has captured their phone. If I want to know what my friend Mark or Savannah is doing, I can see what they’ve posted in the last 24 hours.
Typically, a Snapchat story says enough about someone for me to get an idea about a who, where, what, and when. The story feature was beefed up when users can comment on specific snaps within a friend’s story.
Say someone made a really cool work of art and snapped it, I can comment on that snap and say how awesome I think they did.
Facebook does a decent job of tailoring news for you in their trending tab, but Snapchat provides a wider variety of entertainment in their discover tab.
While I prefer Facebook’s messaging system, Snapchat offers an easy form of video FaceTime that doesn’t have to be done via a “call”.
But it all comes back to the fact that Snapchat’s Story feature provides a much greater connection to my friends than my Facebook timeline. Also a valuable concluding thought to consider: Snapchat is a more visual app compared to Facebook, which combines a newsy dated look and a timeline overloaded with viral videos.