Social Media Mutations: The Snapchat Scrape

   The world of social media is constantly expanding and mutating, and applications come and go, so for parents of teens, it can be an overwhelming and daunting task to keep track of what your teen is doing online. Questions like whom they’re sharing with, where it’s being shared, and who can see this sharing are major concerns. There’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine…CamWow, and Google+, and let’s not forget online gaming…there’s MySpace, and Snapchat and ….whew!

    “Why don’t you pick three you like, and we’ll go from there” is what I say. Then I say to myself, “Why the hell do kids need to take that much time out of your life to “socialmeidialize,” or “twitterpate”? Besides, I’m a mom- I have enough jobs already, so three apps are enough to monitor! “ . The three chosen ones were, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Hmmmm, Snapchat…

    As a mom, I sigh and get to deciding what’s best - as a marketer, I notice the trend in short photo/video messaging apps among teens, and get to wondering how long this will last before I get the pleasure of researching and joining yet another social media site*.

   For those that don’t know, Snapchat is an instant message-type sharing application that allows users to share photos and short video with a short message, or caption. The hottest feature of Snapchat is the fact that the message content disappears several seconds after it’s opened. This feature is what seems to be causing a shift in social media platforms, especially for young users, such as teens, and other companies are taking notice.

   The NY Times article,  A Growing App Lets You See It, Then You Don’t, explains the attraction of the disappearing app content, and the trials and tribulations of this startup company, including its skeptical notoriety, how it can maintain its estimated worth (how is it even worth that at this point?), and the typical Snapchat user. The article brings up many good points about the apps features, and contains some helpful background information on newer social media platforms as a starting point for parents.

 What’s your opinion on teens in the social media landscape? What do you think about Snapchat? If you’re a parent, I’d love to hear any ideas, or guidelines you put in place regarding your teen’s internet usage.

 

 

*Joining to monitor is smart, in my opinion, but sharing with them is uncool, for the most part. We have rules- #1 always ask before posting someone else’s pic, #2 refrain from (too) mushy posts, #3 don’t get too personal.