It's safe to say that everyone has a reason their issues with Snapchat, from exposing a boyfriend's lies through “best friends" to making your sorority sisters question how much you value their friendship due to whatever emoji sits by their contact based on how many times you Snap them. It is sometimes easy to think that this simple little app is a destructive ticking bomb in you social life.
From sending Snaps that don't get a response even though you know they were opened, to getting too excited about getting a Snap from the guy you like only to realize it was a group Snap that went to your friend who flirts with him too, Snapchat definitely has its qualities that cause harm in your life. It is a distracting social media tool, and can be a boring one at that, because -- come on -- we all know that people could post better stories if they tried.
The one redeeming quality that I have found about Snapchat is the fact that it posts stories about big, fun events going on in the world. Whether it is the Final Four in basketball or Australia Day, Snapchat really has shown that it is a very dynamic app that can maybe even educate you through these stories. To create these stories from around the world, Snapchat gathers a collection of Snaps from users at the event, and puts them in all users' stories list until the end of the event for all to see what is happening around the world. And you see all the fun events to plan to be at next year.
I was never a fan of the “stories" feature of Snapchat, because it was just another thing on my phone I was obligated to look at when I have other things to do. But these stories that Snapchat creates from around the world will interest anyone with wanderlust to want to travel more and attend these popular events. What is covered isn't limited, either. When French cartoonist Charlie Hebdo was assassinated in Paris in January, a campaign was launched called, “Je Suis Charlie" to bring attention to terrorist attacks in Paris.
This was an actual newsworthy event that is now a prime example of how Snapchat will be changing the way people interact with others around the world -- through a social media connection. People in different countries will be able to see, firsthand, how people around the world are reacting to things, whether it is a fun parade or a real movement. People are always on their cell phones, and the fact that Snapchat is also a social media app makes it a more attractive option for news. Although Snapchat has not started reporting on the news, yet, it has already shown things that many people would not have otherwise known about since because many of the events are from other countries and are not reported in countries other than their own.
Although Snapchat has had its issues, I find this to be a very interesting and unique characteristic about Snapchat -- that it reaches out to those around the world to help people connect with each other through telling stories.
