SnapWHAT: PART 1 Introductions

If you haven’t used Snapchat as it is intended, then it is still an unknown creature that is easier to label as “silly” or “for the kids”. Many marketers hesitantly step around the little Ghost empire knowing they have to get in on the chat. But how?

This mini-blog will give you a glimpse into the world via the viewpoint of a GenX tech-savvy advertising designer who also happens to profess things at a university. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are easy. LinkedIn and Pinterest are also easy to understand and have a clear purpose. But Snapchat?

First, a quick history lesson and some straightening of facts. Snapchat was originally Picaboo until its founders had a little unfriendly chat of their own. But by fall of 2011, Snapchat was out and taking over high schools everywhere.

As the generation gap became a cavernous divide, many an older adult on Facebook or blogging platforms could prattle on with the plentiful lines of text about what one could do with such a tool. Surely, those meddling Snapchat kids were just sending dick pics and other nasty dirty things back and forth. Why? Because we non-Millennial adults have a vivid imagination what one would/could do with such a toy with its picture life of “only 10 seconds before it disappears into that internet void of no return”. OF COURSE some very entertaining stories can be created. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these tales are untrue.

I asked for feedback about Snapchat via its social media behemoth big brother, the F.B. Glance through these and the multiple attitudes about snapping. One thing is clear – those who complain the most about it are those who have never actually used it.

There are opinions from this: