Snapchat is a popular app that allows users to create and send “snaps” messages that use multiple media options, including photos and videos. Users can edit that content to include text, drawings, and filters. Young users enjoy features that quickly delete snap messages after posting. Group messages, for example, disappear one day after everyone in the group has viewed them.
In addition to sending private messages, Snapchat users can post public content or content known as “Stories” that can only be seen by their followers.
Users open the app and use the camera to take a video or photo. Then, they choose whether to post it to their personal Story or send it as a message. Snaps can be sent as individual or group messages to people in the user’s contact list.
Snapchat’s defining feature is that content disappears shortly after it has been created, usually within 24 hours. Content sent to a friend is deleted once the friend views and navigates away from the message. Users can, however, choose to save snaps from their dashboards.
A snap posted as a Story also disappears 24 hours after posting. However, some options, such as Group Chats, may remain available for up to a week if not all group members have viewed the content.
Kids and teens enjoy the relative feeling of privacy provided by the app’s regular deletion of content because parents and authority figures have a lower chance of seeing it. However, users can save photos and videos posted by other users and circulate them, meaning that users don’t have ultimate control over their content.
