Have you heard about the latest social media outlet called Snapchat? Maybe it isn’t all that new and I am behind the times, as usual.
With Snapchat, you can send a photo to your closest 1,000 friends and the image self-destructs within seconds after it is opened. I haven’t seen Snapchat in action so I consider myself an expert on the subject. Or at least I pretend to be one.
From an article in today’s paper, “Snapchat is being embraced as an antidote to a world where nearly every celebration and life moment is captured to be shared, logged, liked, commented on, stored, searched, and sold. For people who don’t want to worry about unflattering pictures or embarrassing status updates coming back to haunt them, the app’s appeal is obvious.”
I should know. The photo of me with a lampshade on my head at LouAnn’s virtual New Year’s Eve party has gone viral.
One of Snapchat’s founders, at the wise old age of 22, said, “It became clear how awful social media is. There is real value in sharing moments that don’t live forever.” Peter Deng with Facebook’s copycat of Snapchat called Poke adds, “People want something that is more lightweight than a message and less permanent.”
Come again?
Robin winning at Beer Pong, again. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I look at it this way. A High School girl can now sext racy pictures of herself to her English teacher and the poor guy doesn’t have to worry about a jail sentence. The photos of Susie are zapped from the face of the digital earth. College frat boys can capture and send images of their drunken debauchery around the world and future employers will never know they hold their state championship title in Beer Pong. Cougars now have a way to seduce the pool boy via provocative facelift and boob job photos and their husbands will be none the wiser.
Anthony Weiner probably wishes Snapchat was around when he felt duty-bound to send sexually suggestive photos of himself to young women. He might still be in office.
This quote from a Shapchat investor has me scratching my head. “People are looking to communicate in a real way. The real self as opposed to the projected self.” Huh? How does Snapchat work this miracle?
If you are really on your game when someone sends you a Snapchat photo, you can capture a screenshot of the image before it goes into oblivion. When a screenshot of your photo is taken, you are alerted that the picture of you wearing ladies underwear was captured for all time. Snapchat calls this a “feature,” or added value of the service. You can’t do anything about it, but you will know you need to line up a lawyer well in advance of being a victim of extortion. Phew. Thank you benevolent Snapshot for this service to mankind with a thing for lace bras and panties.
My question is this . . . If you are sending a photo you want destroyed, for whatever reason, why take the photo in the first place?
Robin Coyle 
Some (read, many) photos should be destroyed, permanently……….lol
Surely none of yours, however.
Who are those people? What people? Nobody asked me anything before Snapchat was created. I would have made the same suggestion, Robin. Why send the picture in the first place?
Potential blackmail material? That can’t be it because the photos self-destruct. Kids these days . . .
Upon reading that ‘self destruct’ feature, I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world would Daniel Briggs, I mean James Phelps have fun with that?
Who are those people?
The leads from Mission Impossible – the 60’s tv series.
Duh. Oh of course!
I’ll confess/duck and admit I did not like the movie versions.
I agree. Tom Cruise bugs me.
I agree. Better not to take the shot than rely on an app to destroy it. Strange world we’ve created. Things are going bassackward.
Indeed. Bassackward.
I just wish all those chips I just ate would disappear. Where’s the app for that? It could be called ‘SnackSlapped’ or something.
Invent it and you will make millions! Millions, I tell ya!
I’m guilty of loving snapchat! 🙂
I know you do, but you need to explain its appeal. How is it different than sending a photo via text or email?
Your last line says it all!! And remember, nothing really permanently disappears on the internet…
Especially if it is a racy photo!
This sounds like the dumbest social media channel yet. Share a photo OR don’t. It’s not tricky. Make a choice. Then stick with it. *shakes head & wanders away*
My thoughts exactly. However, Snapchat sure is catching on. Go figure.
Oblivion…yeah right!
Yeah . . . just like everything on the Internet is true.
I love your wit, Robin! 🙂
I’m so glad!
Hi Robin! I’m watching the Grammys and catching up with blogs. I read the article you linked, and this sounds like it could be neat little app. When our son lost control of his car on ice this year, and it went over that little embankment, it would have been nice to send a snapshot to Rich so he could see, and then it would be gone. It wouldn’t be anything he would need to keep. If he wanted to keep it, he could do a capture with the app, and it would send a “ding” back to me that the picture was kept. … However, I can see where the #1 use for the app is probably sex pictures (teens included), so I’m not ready to get on the bandwagon and support. Thanks for keeping me in the loop on new technology. 🙂
I read that something like one in three teens have sent or received sexy/nude photos. What happened to the days of sharing a malt at the ice cream parlor? Holding hands on the front porch swing? Carving your initials in a tree? Oh, am I dating myself?
Hey pretty soon we will be back to stuff like conceptual art: remember? That was “art” you just thought up but never actually produced a product…all in the head.
All in the head – along with all those little voices…..?
Seems to me conceptual art involved a lot of mind-altering drugs for the artist as well as the viewer. “Oh wow, man. That is deep.”
You would think so – but a lot of it was “super cool intellectuals” or snake oil medicine men…depends on your view point?
It’s frightening to think how much is out there, floating around the ether.
You mean those photos of you I Snapchatted? Sorry.
You’re barred! 🙂
I wonder if someone is quick enough, they can copy & paste, or ‘save as.’ However, I don’t think anything we put on the internet, no matter how much we’re told it will disappear, really disappears.
Yeah . . . and it kind of scares me.
Me too.
Sounds lovely.
(Sighs and shakes his head in disgust.)
Yeah, but Dad . . . all the cool kids are doing it.
Yeah, and if all the cool kids jumped off of the Brooklyn Br —
Oh, my God! I’m old!
If you are old, what does that make me? A fossil?
There is no beyond old, in my view. Let’s all be old together!
Deal!
It’s all. So. Ridiculous. Social media will be the death of intelligence and humanity. In that order.
And how ironic it is that we are talking about this on social media.
I know!
Never heard of this. Thanks for the warning.
I feel like those brilliant twenty-something founders should now use their brains to help end world hunger. I mean, they have proven themselves to be sooooo smart and dedicated to better their community! I bet they could really do some positive things with their brainpower and energy.
Good point. These brainiacs need something better to do. And the dumbos using Snapchat to send inappropriate pictures should do something productive as well.
I’ve never heard of it and now that I have, I’m going to dismiss it within 22 seconds. Do we need another way to send stuff to each other. I suppose the best part is that it doesn’t stick around…and that’s the worst part too.
Yeah . . . if you want to send someone a picture, why not email or text it?
Warms my heart seeing you here, Kate.
Nope, hadn’t heard of it. I’m not going to completely dismiss it though because a lot of these things sounded ridiculous and pointless when they first came out. And then eventually you get them – I mean “get them” as in understand them. This one isn’t doing it for me right now, but I shall watch that space and see what happens.
Are they trying to say that it’s more like real life because in real life moments come and go in an instant? Coming up with new concepts in the world of social media is quite a thing really, nobody knows what will work and what won’t.
From what I understand, Snapchat is super popular. I like the idea of an easy way of sending photos but the “destroyed in seconds after opening” has a sinister sound to it.
I think they are saying it is more like real life because people up up fake lives on Facebook.
I’ve never heard of Snapchat but I’m over 40, so I have my excuses. The first thing that came to my mind when I read the description was… screenshot! There you have it, I’d be a screenshot person, so I can shame those dumb people for all eternity. 😉
Yeah, and your kids are still young so they can’t tell you about the latest social media craze. I first heard about Snapchat from my 21-year-old daughter. Without the kids to keep me up-to-date with social trends, I’d still be using smoke signals to send messages.
I’m not looking forward to the day my kids take over my computer. They already took over the radio and know the title and the artist for every single song playing. It’s like having my own DJs. 🙂
I watched the Grammys last night and was shocked at how many of the artists I didn’t know! Where have I been?
It’s OK, you probably don’t need to remember them because most artists who win Grammys for the first time quickly disappear afterwards, unless they’ve been around for a long time. And you know those guys by then.
I’ve heard of it (and I think I used it when I was on your roof with James Taylor – though my head’s a little fuzzy on that one).
I think it’s gimmick/quick/money/maker/thingy – like most other things they’re trying to sell the kids these days…
Oh yeah . . . James Snapchatted a photo of you to me. It will make me millions.
The article said they aren’t making money on Snapchat. To which I say, YET. They’ll get people hooked and then sell ad space.
That is really twisted. It sounds like it was created expressly for the purpose of encouraging illicit and unsavory activity. Besides, if people send me photos of you in compromising positions, I want to be able to keep them for posterity, dammit.
Okay, okay. I’ll send some photos of me to you via email.
Weird!
Makes me uncomfortable thinking that teens are using the service to send naughty photos.
I will definitely check it out! As for terrible photos, they just seem to happen like awkward moments.. and they just keep on coming!
The great thing about digital photography is I can delete unflattering photos of myself the moment they are taken. That means, I have zero pictures of myself!
I always forget to delete them and I have plenty too!
*scratches head*
Yup. It is a puzzlement.
Some people will never learn!
Exactly.
There will always be a way around these things. I wouldn’t trust it with a ten-foot pole. And people shouldn’t be sending pics of their poles anyway…
Thanks for the info, Robin. I hadn’t heard of this. Not that I plan on using it, but it’s good to keep abreast of new technology.
There. Is that enough double entendres for you?
Snapshot seems to be thrusting its way into main stream social media. In and out of inner circles. The climax will come and then what? Will we feel satisfied? Will we bounce back like a rubber? What will the world come to?
Okay. That is all I got.
Ooh, you totally smoked me with those. Brilliant! I cannot compete with a double entendre champion like you…
So I left you smoking a cigarette after our intimate encounter? Okay. I’ll shut-up now.
It was a candy cigarette, of course.
But did you inhale?
No, but I chewed.
Reading this back and forth conversation has left me fulfilled and satisfied in every sense of the way. 😉
As long as you’re not faking it. 😉
bit how would you know if they were?
Good point.
that was “but how would you know…” (interrupted by sneeze)
Gazuntite
Mmmmmm, aaaaaahhhh, I’ll have what you’re having. Gosh, wasn’t that the best scene in When Harry Met Sally?
Yes. And the most uncomfortable one, too…
well played indeed
haa good ones Carrie
Thank you! But Robin’s response made mine limp in comparison. 😉
giggle
Oh brother.
oh brother?
Oh brother – where art thou 😉
“If you are sending a photo you want destroyed, for whatever reason, why take the photo in the first place?”
I’ll say it again: you are as wise as you are beautiful and talented, Robin.
I’ll say it again: “That is why I love you, Hook. You recognize talent when you see it. Too bad you don’t see it in me!”
Stop that immediately!
You’re one talented chick, Robin Coyle!
Same to you buddy. Not about the chick part, but the talented part.
Thanks for the clarification, pal.
no secrets indeed. And yes the question is why– like the stupid teacher that took a picture of her students with duct tape on their mouths and captioned the photo with ” I finally got them to shut up” then posted it on facebook? Why why why?
It is all too easy, too accessible and too fuzzy
Remember the preschool teacher (I think that is what she is/was) who posted a photo on Facebook of her making an obscene gesture at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? How could she have thought that was cool/funny/okay on any level?
shaking my head. I just hope my own children have better judgement. So far so good.
Speaking for all the parents on the planet . . . we all hope our children have better judgement.
you just never know.. stupidity creeps up when you least expect it.
Especially when alcohol is involved. Sigh.
ooh I have had my own photos crop up on facebook from old college buddies… doh! It spans the generations
Now that sounds like a story I’d like to hear! Party animal, were we?
thankfully we are all mature adults and the picture came down BEFORE the children saw. Gawd– facebook is evil with all these circles.. children nieces nephews…
Ummm why no, I was an angel. That is why I love school so much now 😉
Do they have beer bashes in librarian school?
laughing Oh Robin. I am far from the normal librarian. i so do not fit into this profession. I have no idea how I ended up where I did or why they put up with me. There is a reason why I am BS
No are never BS, darlin’
Never heard of Snapchat, so we and many others are I imagine all in the happy behind the times boat.
So many questions. Answer to yours – most of us wouldn’t but enough to make money out of this venture would…
Haven’t we heard similar before? Yes. Was it true? No. Do we believe this version that images will not be retained, ooh the fine print? No.
But then again I’m old, I believe very little of what people tell me and my motto is “seeing is believing” but in this case, Snapchat photos would be something I don’t want to see.
I heard about Snapchat from my 21-year-old daughter over Christmas break. All the cool kids are doing it. When Snapchat gained popularity, Facebook woke up and smelled the dollar signs and jumped on the craze. I guess if it is used for innocent reasons, like sending grandma a picture of the new baby, okay. But . . . and there are so many buts out there. And butts.
I hadn’t heard of it before now, and I don’t think I’ll need its services. 😉 My sneaking suspicion is that this digital age will be the downfall of civilization and reviled by any humans who survive it.
Your statement reminds me of “The Planet of the Apes” somehow.
Yes, these are the programs we parents worry about!
As if we don’t have enough to worry about, right?
Instant delete makes it easier for stalkers-techies and harder for victims to save evidence to prove continual harassment. I’d knew about being able to do messages this way – should have realized pix were possible, too.
ARRRGGGHHHH
so really, snapchat is not just seconds or moments long–they can be captured — so they are useless to the stupid and naked
Yes . . . there will be a new soap opera called the “Stupid, Young, and the Naked.”
I think I could write it except for the naked and young parts
Just check out Snapchat and you will have all the material you need.
Ah, your last question is the most important. Let us say that you sent it just as you would make a joke at a party: you make it, then it is done and gone. No one else has the privilege to see/hear it.
However, from what I know of the Internet, the website will be required to keep those photos for a period of time – legalities – so, as always, there are no secrets on the Internet.
Scott
No secrets on the Internet and they are for all the world to see. We are turning into a fishbowl planet.
It’s a small world (after all).