Why I'm loving Snapchat as a blogger

When my friends encouraged me to download Snapchat, at first I was hesitant. Immediately, I just thought it was for kids – I said I’m sure there won’t be anyone over 30 on there and I’m going to feel like a right Grandma. Also, don’t people just use it to send each other naked pictures? I couldn’t work out why as a blogger it could work for me. BUT, I gave in and hit download. Honestly, I thought it would be another flash in the pan app that would be deleted within a couple of days, maybe once I’d exhausted the funny filters and the novelty had worn off. NOT SO MUCH. Now 2-3 months down the line, I’m absolutely absolutely addicted! I snap, watch stories and use Snapchat to communicate with people every single day. I’ve also started to make friends and have found my food spirit animal to trade foodie tips with (Hi Sasha from F for Foxtrot). So I thought I’d write a post about what I love about snapchat, and why it’s just SO amazingly addictive:

It’s so REAL – Snapchat has got to be one of the most authentic social networks out there. No, I’m not saying we all walk around with puppy ears and a sticky-out tongue, but people snap throughout the day and it paints a real picture of their actual lives. It’s just point and click, no dressing up and editing, like on Instagram but instead it’s snippets of real life in pictures or easily digestible 10 second chunks.
It’s so quick and easy – Just one tap and you’ve made a video. The less thought you put into it, the better it is… Just point and click, post, done!
It’s informal – No need to glam up when it comes to snapchat, some of the best stories I watch just follow people around during their day-to-day business. It sounds quite boring but most people are actually really nosey when it comes to other peoples lives, you’d be amazed how interesting it can be! I especially love following friends who are abroad and seeing how differently their days are to mine.
I’ve bonded to well with my ‘followers’ and enjoy watching their day – It’s so much more personal, I feel like I’m really getting to know my fellow snappers and hopefully they feel the same about me. I only have about 75 people on my Snapchat list (you can’t actually tell) and I have 3300 followers on Twitter, if I say the a similar message on both I get so much more engagement from my Snapchat buddies as it’s so much more intimate. Twitter feels like you are shouting your message out into the wilderness and hoping for a return. We add people on snapchat as we like them and want to see what they are doing. I genuinely look forward to watching my friends stories at the end of the day and watch every night without fail.
The filters – Obviously. I thought they would get boring after a while but they change almost daily. I’ve got into a routine of checking for new filters in the morning and there have been some HILARIOUS ones recently! You can also get new filters based on your location settings.
It deletes after 24 hours – Maybe we are waking up to the fact that everything you put something on the Internet is there FOREVER – even if you delete it. Will the things you said or did now come back to haunt you in 10 years time? Well, with snapchat we are excused from this as everything deletes within 24 hours. Phew! You can screenshot snapchat, but it’ll give you a notification if someone does that so don’t fret!
It’s liberating – I have always been so embarrassed at the thought of film videos for YouTube, I’m just way too shy. But on Snapchat it’s so fast paced there is so much less pressure. I’ve been able to start making some actual video clips and people have been giving me some great feedback! It feels liberating you can just be yourself and it’s just for that moment in time, if you don’t like it, tomorrow is a new day and with that there will be new snaps and a chance to try again. It’s constantly moving and evolving.
It’s not a popularity contest – Your friends list is totally private on Snapchat, so you have no idea who follows who and how many people are watching their snaps. You can see who’s viewed your snaps, but thats it, no one else can. There isn’t this pressure like on Instagram to get a certain amount of likes, follows and engagement. Like I said earlier, people only watch as they genuinely want to and it makes it so much more authentic.
Snapchat ‘projects’ – this is my new favourite thing. I’ve recently done a few different walks around where I live and along Brighton seafront and snapped along the way. I also snapped colouring my hair with before, during and after shots. These sort of ‘real life stories’ seem to grab the most attention as people are coming back to see what happened next, I really enjoy this sort of thing on my friends stories and love planning little ‘projects’ to share too.
Who cares if you aren’t wearing make-up when you can be a zebra – Self explanatory and a godsend. Why can’t I do this in real life?