The Ever Changing Face of SnapChat

Trends come and go. Some trends die out fast, while others take the world by storm by sticking around until eventually another one takes the spotlight. SnapChat has proved to be a trend that’s been in the spotlight for quite some time. SnapChat is an app designed to send and receive impermanent pictures. SnapChat allows users to share life instantly to your friends through pictures and video.The first app of its kind, SnapChat gained immense popularity and still continues to trend among millennials today with its ever changing face.

It was first launched under the name “Picaboo” in July 2011 by creator, Evan Spiegel and co-creator Bobby Murphy where it was later relaunched in September under its new name SnapChat. Spiegel created and launched the app in his dad’s living room when he was only 20 years old. The app’s mascot of the ghost is named “Ghostface Chillah” which was referenced from the Wu Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapchat) Now, at the age of 25, Spiegel is worth 2.1 Billion for his ingenious and popular invention. Read it here in Forbes.

In May 2012, SnapChat started small with 25 images being sent every second among users. By November, SnapChat had been released for the Android, and users had accumulated to share over 1 billion photos since its launch. Learn about it on wikipedia here, By May 2013, SnapChat had reached 150 million snaps per day, and big corporate companies such as Taco Bell had jumped on the trend.

SnapChat has only gone up and rose in popularity since. Perhaps the reason Siegel’s invention has become so popular is because his team keeps updating the app and adding more accessories to the app that keep it relevant.

SnapChat has added such features like “snap story” where you can share a snap with all your friends for 24 hours on a timeline. A very popular addition was the snap chat filter that was added in December 2013, along with timestamps, temperature, speed overlay, and the ability to replay a snap. In May 2014, the app added “the snap story” where users could share a snap on a timeline with all their friends for 24 hours.

SnapChat again keeps their app relevant by adding geofilters- an image tag that shares your location last summer in July. McDonalds was the first company to pay SnapChat for a geo filter for an advertising campaign. If there was any hesitation that SnapChat was beginning to get boring, the app wowed users by adding a facial recognition feature that allows for an animated selfie lens. (Check it out here.

SnapChat now currently has 100 million active daily users and accounts for over 30% of all millennial social media users, with over 400 million snaps being sent per day. Snapchat has significantly grown in popularity since its release in 2011.

Celebrities often endorse SnapChat and use it to invite fans into their everyday lives. Popular snap accounts belong to such celebrities a DJ Khaled and actor/singer Jared Leto. DJ Khaled obtained the most watched snap stories in the year 2015. His corky habits of getting pulled over on his jet ski, and continuous positivity of life lessons blew up among social media. Jared Leto also obtained a very popular account through a more artistic form by sharing his ever changing hair styles through his selfies, and through his snap art. Read about it here.

SnapChat has clutched society with its new age technology that stays relevant to its users in this generation of millennials. According to a Piper Jaffray survey, SnapChat is more popular than Facebook among teenagers. With its ever changing face, and increasing support, SnapChat will continue to dominate social media platforms.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.