What is Snapchat and do you need it in your life?

Just when you think you have mastered social media – along comes something new to confuse you.

I have written before about how I have no time for middle aged people who think it’s all about sharing what you had for breakfast – which of course sometimes it is – or those who profess (in a slightly superior way) to be too busy for social media. We are all busy, but this is the modern world people – and if you snooze you loose – or at least you might miss out on some really interesting stuff.

The important thing in this world of ‘peak stuff’ and too much information, is to choose the platforms that suit you. If you like a constant stream of news and witty observations on life – then Twitter is for you, if you are a visual person, then Instagram‘s the one and Facebook is great for sharing info and images with friends & family, as well as for finding out about whats going on in your local area.

Snapchat is the latest trend in social media – loved by young people for its instant IRL (in real life) images and videos. It’s possibly the most un-user friendly platform, as it’s almost impossible to find people to follow unless you already know them, but its fun and instant and part of the appeal seems to be the transient nature of the images.

Unlike the perfectly filtered, carefully constructed images that have become the norm on Instagram, Snapchat allows you to share honest snapshots of your life in real time and the saying “the uglier the picture the better the friend” perfectly sums up its appeal.

You can either share images or short videos directly with friends, or upload them to stories which you share with all your followers. The images shared with individuals disappear as soon as they have been viewed and the stories – which you can keep adding to – disappear after 24 hours. Its fun and honest (there are filters but they are fun rather than enhancing) and instant and ever so slightly addictive, in the way that any new social platform becomes when you first try it.

Lots of brands are now using it as a way to connect with consumers in real time – and its fast becoming a great way to give them a more human voice and individual personality. It’s also a good way to keep up bloggers and online influencers as well as seeing new events/launches as they happen and to get behind the scenes insights into what’s going on backstage at catwalk shows.

Its currently more popular with young people than all the other social media platforms – so my prediction is that they will make it more user friendly any day now.

Like all new social media platforms adopted by young people first, it will eventually filter through into the mainstream – so its worth taking a look.

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