Snapchat revolutionizes social media | saupulse.com

A girl stands in front of a mirror, iPhone in hand. It is the scene of many infamous Myspace and Facebook profiles: head tilted, leaned forward, “duck face” at the ready. However, this girl isn’t looking to take the newest “hot” picture for everyone to admire. She snaps a ridiculous shot and shoots it off to a couple of friends with the caption, “myspacing it, lol.”

Her friends receive it and laugh. 10 seconds later, the picture is gone, irretrievable.

With apps and services such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and even picture messaging, such a feat is impossible. A picture, even if deleted, remains relatively retrievable and permanent. However, a new service called Snapchat is aiming to change that.

“We’re making social media fun again,” said Snapchat’s website.

Snapchat, an app developed for iOS and Android, aims to provide the service of “picture mortality” to its users. The app allows users to take and send pictures to friends, along with the ability to add captions with one key feature: the pictures disappear after a time allotted by the sender.

With its smiling ghost icon “Ghostface Chillah,” Snapchat provides pictures that are just that: here one second and gone the next. According to Snapchat’s website, the sender of the picture has the option to save the photo, but the receiver does not. If a screenshot is attempted, the sender will be notified immediately.

Since the app launched in September 2011, users have sent over 20 million pictures per day, accounting for a total of 1.2 billion pictures, in a statistic from allthingsd.com.

Reviews of the service by SAU students are mixed. “I have fun with Snapchat, like with being able to draw on people,” said sophomore Jennie Humbach. “It’s like having a real conversation, but not quite.”

“I find it confusing to navigate, and the drawing tools can’t be fully utilized on a touchscreen,” said sophomore Justin Lundy.

When it first launched, Snapchat came under fire because critics thought it increased “sexting,” or the sending of sexual picture text messages, among teens. However, a study by “New York Magazine” showed that most users use Snapchat for self portraits or to show where they are at any given time without it being permanent.

Snapchat is currently a free app for iPhone and is also available as a free download in Google Play for Android.

Tags: picture sharing , pictures , snapchat , social media

source: www.saupulse.com