I haven’t been a very big fan of Twitter and Facebook these days. I don’t find the daily passings of my life to be interesting or relevant in 140 characters or less and in all seriousness liking Facebook just isn’t cool anymore.
The new media/app/concept that has gripped me is Snapchat. Founded by some fraternity house residents at Stanford that are now, for lack of a better term, “totally suing each other, bro”, Snapchat was originally used amongst a small circle of 100 people primarily for sexting. However the app spread faster than an STI amongst its original userbase and now the whole world has an opportunity to join the fracas.
I think this app is special. I’ve really enjoyed our first few months together and I look forward to watching Snapchat evolve and find a niche in our technoculture. If the creators decide to monetize it I’ll be among the first to shell out cash for extra perks. Here’s five reasons to upgrade to Snapchat Premium.
1. It’s easy to use. I can use Snapchat to send a gargantuan amount of information amount of information in less than half the time it takes me to send a comparingly meaningless text message. Going through the excruciating 10-20 second trial of will that is typing in the first few letters of a friend’s name, selecting their contact and tapping out “I’m on the way” is a thing of the past. Instead you can imply that information by whipping out your phone and sneaking a picture of the surprisingly well dressed man eating eating a stack Kraft singles sitting across from you on the bus.
2. It reverses the follower to content creator relationship. When someone tweets, one of two things happen. Their multitudes of eager followers set about furiously retweeting, replying and recycling their content, or their miniscule audience hardly notices it because it is drowned in the tweets of more prolific and popular accounts. Snapchat let’s you choose exactly who your content is delivered to. Never before has an app been adequate for sharing a life event with a wide audience and also slipping that certain someone a tasteful nude.
3. Photos are a rich medium. I believe there is some sort phrase pertaining to the idea of pictures and their significantly larger value as compared to words. Whatever it is, it never speaks louder than through the medium of a Snap. A selfie can explain your emotional state, current location, and the nature of your intentions in greater detail and less time than a text message. A sweeping video tour of your bustling kitchen can give a better account of your meal than any #steak4days #brusselsproutsareunreal #pomfrites instagram can offer. As an added bonus, you can select which friends you share with to avoid exposing yourself to the (majority of) people who find your poorly lit #foodporn #instafood posts to be obnoxious.
4. It gives you an opportunity to be creative. I touched on this in the previous paragraph. Snapchat makes authoring and sharing original content easier than ever before. Contrary to popular belief, you’re not required to limit yourself to quick pics in the mirror and close ups of your half-finished pint of Stella. Try finding the perfect take of that graffiti down the block or even arranging the items on your desk in the shape of a penis, the choices are endless! I’m not afraid to clip on my miniature iPhone wide angle/macro camera lens and work with a friend to create video content with high production value. Don’t be afraid to collaborate in order to get a better picture of the outfit you just spent several minutes preparing or produce a 10 second or less dramatic feature
5. It digitally recreates the spacio-temporal experience. Bear with me here. The best part about Snapchat is the way that using the app is similar to our existence in general. Like all good things in life, a great snap is fleeting moment. You can only watch that video of your friend eating several “two-bite” brownies simultaneously but one time. That picture of a home made pesto grilled cheese will only ever exist for six seconds. In a world where each simple text message is carved in stone to be recorded for all time, the temporary nature of Snapchat is a refreshing change of pace.
