For Research Sake: Snap Chatting

I’m considered a millennial – aged 18-34 – and while some days I may feel older than I actually am, it doesn't change the fact that I exist within this paradigm.

According to a study, Snapchat has 32.9% more penetration on mobile users, making it more popular than Twitter. Thus far, I’m not considered part of this equation since I only recently downloaded the app for use.

I’m late in the game, and not really for good reason. I have no excuse, I’m a marketer – my profession obligates me to try different social media platforms for personal use or professional testing. It’s a necessary staple so that I can give proper recommendations to clients for their own social media existence.

However, I have never had a client, until now, that have the millennial demographic as their target market. As such, I am now conducting first level research on the app by using it myself.

Disposable Content

Trends come and go, so it was only a matter of time that there would be an app created that would dispose of content more quickly than it took you to capture and think of witty caption.

I like content however, so this is a difficult aspect of the app for me to grasp – I suppose it’s something that I will get used to, eventually.

To get started on the platform, I needed to learn the meanings of the icons, this was challenging for me because I touched everything on the screen, often sending messages without realizing. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

What I did appreciate about the app was that unlike all other social media platforms, Snapchat does not require you to build a profile, add a personal description, or design your page to conform to all your other profiles. It’s a download and go app, almost like snap and go chatting – very little effort to get started.

Snapchat also has a 31 character limit for text. After a couple of snaps and chats, you'll appreciate Twitter's 140 character limit yet wonder why Instagram needs so many.

After a few months of use, my reviews of the app are somewhat inconclusive. I use it, on occasion, but also find it difficult to understand on a communication basis. It would be interesting however, to try the app for promotional purposes in business. Taco Bell does Snapchat well.