Producer DJ Khaled is the king of social media. He is corny and eccentric at the same time, but none of that takes away from the fact that Khaled is number one. The reign of the rapper/producer might be relatively new, but Snapchat itself is a veteran among social media sharing applications. Four years ago the app’s creators Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel decided to create a video messaging application while still at college. It did not take long before the app was on almost every phone across the globe.
As of May last year Snapchat users were sending upwards of two billion photos and videos a day. I am no exception to this trend as well. Numerous times throughout my day I can be found trying to find the best light possible for a candid selfie. Personally, when Snapchat was first released I was not at all expecting the popularity that it would attain.
Like many, my first impression of the app was that it did not have the functionality that was needed for it to become one of the elite social platforms. Facebook and Twitter had already been dominating the internet with literally billions of users. However, Snapchat does a few things in particular that make it one of the most used apps that Apple and Android provide to their users. Snapchat, with its ability of live-sharing media, is a great way of keeping up to date with friends and celebrities alike.
Snapchat allows me to share my world with my friends and my friends are able to communicate with me even from across the globe. Sure, I have a great group of friends here on campus and in the surrounding areas, but what about all my friends who are abroad? Snapchat is the perfect app to keep in contact with all of them. For instance, a close friend lives in Bombay during the majority of the winter. Not being able to see him in person for a substantial chunk of time allows Snapchat to work its media sharing magic. I can now always know what my friend in Bombay is up to and I can interact with him by sending messages from across the globe. Now I know that might sound a little weird, if not creepy, but Snapchat has allowed me to continue many friendships that I value greatly.
As well as long distance relationships Snapchat gives me the chance to reminisce on funny moments with friends that are right here in Boston. Seeing what my friends are doing around the city might just inspire me to leave the comfort of my dorm to hangout with them. Snapchat is a great way to share one’s world with others. I am constantly in search of creating funny stories to share with the world, aka my followers. Our world is changing everyday and having the ability to chat with friends, abroad or not, through Snapchat, is a crucial factor in maintaining the strength of a long distance friendship.
I am obsessed with many celebrities, like many people are, and having Snapchat is a great and easy way to keep up with some of my favorite celebs. One in particular has taken the Snapchat game by storm. Pop icon and producer DJ Khaled has become the face of social media in the past few months, amassing an astronomical amount of fans on Snapchat. Khaled followers are allowed a glimpse into the life of the hip hop mogul through his stories of positivity and swagger. Followers are almost guaranteed to see thousands of pairs of Jordan’s and house shoes, as well as Chef D, Khaled’s personal chef, cooking up Khaled’s favorite meals.
Khaled at times, well actually the entire time, is as gung-ho as any card counter in a casino. When he isn’t inspiring his followers to workout or eat healthy, Khaled can be giving thousands on the app a view of any club in his hometown of Miami. In a New York Times article Khaled is described as a creator who “Is too busy walking the pathway to more success to let naysayers tell him what he can’t do. Every day he films a combination of inspirational talk, outrageous adventures and mundane minutiae of life, a mix that in recent weeks has become social media core curriculum.” Khaled is just one of the many “high profile” celebrities that I am following, but it by far the most impressive.
While Snapchat has given the young and old alike a common source of sharing one’s life with the world, there are hang-ups to address. Snapchat prides itself on the fact that it upholds a level of privacy that is unmatched to any other social sharing site. However, “The photo-sharing app Snapchat offers a false sense of privacy by promising it will erase photos. In fact, numerous third-party apps save photos. Their mere existence undermines Snapchat's purpose. And if these third-party apps are unsafe, Snapchat is too,” For example, assume that one of these third party apps is hacked. Within seconds thousands of “private” photos are shared throughout the world. All of a sudden that picture that you thought you were sending to your significant other is being viewed by anyone that happens to come across it.
In fact the app made headlines recently with numerous hacks and leaks to it’s mainframe. In November 2014, “The developers at Snapchat announced that they were working on resolving the issues of snap-leaks happening. These issues were a result of the use of third-party apps that have been known to save snaps,” To combat these third party hacks the creators of Snapchat have created features to the app that notify users when snaps are being saved by somebody else, “As any users utilize the self-destruct photo service for sexting and sending nudes.”
While there are detracting factors of the app that might deter users Snapchat itself has still modernized what communication really is at its core. Beyond texting or Facebook messaging Snapchat is allowing users to “visually” see what their friends are up to. Texting and written messages can be misinterpreted in thousands of different ways. But actually seeing something, video or picture, through Snapchat is allowing for people to understand exactly what is happening. This might just be my opinion as a visual learner, but I would much rather see my friends actually do something than just hear about it.
Communicating with one another is a factor of life that will never disappear, no matter how long one might live. Social trends work their course and who knows if Snapchat will stick around in ten years, but the app is worth investing in now. Within seconds of checking my phone I can be caught up to date on the lives of my friends living across the globe, my friend in Bombay and I are constantly sending silly selfies to each other.
Sometimes, without even texting friends I can send a snap to them asking them if they want to grab a quick bite to eat, or maybe they want to hangout. During multiple breaks while writing this paper I have used Snapchat to check in on everyone I follow, including inspiration extraordinaire DJ Khaled. Khaled, while eccentric at times, uses the app to show off his life to thousands of diehard followers. While many see Khaled as a joke, an important aspect of his messages are filled with true positivity aimed at motivating the masses of the digital world. When you really think about it, isn’t that what social media really should be for.
