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You’ve probably heard of Snapchat if you have tweens or adolescents. And if you can’t figure it out, you’re definitely over the age of 25. Snapchat, one of the most popular social media applications, provides kids and teenagers what they want: an easy method to share daily occurrences while also making them appear fantastic.
Moreover, unlike Facebook and Twitter, which record and publish everything you do, Snapchat employs disappearing messages. Snapchat, like many other social media applications, is a mixed bag, so it’s important to understand how it works, how your kids use it, and how much time they spend on it so you can ensure their experiences are pleasant.
Snapchat provides more excitement than just connecting with and following friends: games, news and entertainment, quizzes, and incredibly creative photo- and video-editing capabilities. Pocket-lint has produced this guide to make things easier for you and newcomers. By the conclusion, you’ll be familiar with every aspect of the software. And remember to come back here for the next update.
What Exactly is Snapchat?
Snapchat is a smartphone app available for both Android and iOS devices. Users using the app commonly refer to it as Snap. Meanwhile, Snapchat’s developer is a publicly traded firm named Snap. The firm claims to be a camera manufacturer. Snap, whatever you want to name it, is led by co-founder Evan Spiegel.
One of the key features of the smartphone app is that every photo, video, or message – called snap – you send by default is only exposed to the recipient for a brief period before being unavailable. The app’s transient or fleeting character was intended to facilitate a more natural flow of engagement.
Snapchat was founded on private, person-to-person photo sharing. Still, you may now use it for various purposes, including sending films, live video conferencing, texting, generating caricature-like Bitmoji characters, and sharing a chronological “story” that is broadcasted to all your followers. There’s even a “Discovery” section with short-form material from popular publications like Buzzfeed. Snapchat even allows you to save media in a secure place.
Other capabilities include applying filters and AR-based lenses to pictures and displaying your current position on a globe map. But the most important thing about Snapchat is that it is all about quick communication via your phone. Before Snapchat, social networking was mostly a desktop-based experience. For example, you could publish status updates, tweets, and images online, your friends could remark on them, and you could all view them forever.
Snapchat revolutionized internet communication. With Snapchat, you can rapidly share a snapshot of yourself with a rainbow-puking AR lens with a buddy, and it will disappear when they open it. They may technically capture it and respond with their photo or video reaction, which they can also broadcast to their story for their friends and followers to view. This software has several applications. It’s difficult not to notice its worth and why it’s special.
How Does Snapchat Function?
After downloading it from the App Store or Google Play, you must sign up for Snapchat using your email address. Your name, date of birth, and phone number will be required. You must also select a username and password. Despite what it says, you can change your Snapchat username, but it’s a little tough, so select one and stick with it.
Snapchat requires access to your camera to record photographs or videos. Using the top-right icon, you may toggle between your front- and rear-facing cameras. To snap a photo, press the button at the bottom of your screen, or hold it down to record a video.
The sender might specify a time limit or let it repeat indefinitely. When the receiver sees your Snap and moves away, it vanishes. Three major interfaces exist. When you click on the app, the camera screen appears. To the right of this, Discover displays fresh Stories from contacts and articles from publishers. Finally, to the left of your camera screen is the Chat option, which lists your friends.
Tap on someone’s name and type to chat with them. In Chat threads, you may also send a Snap, emoji, or photo from your Camera Roll. Of course, its capabilities extend beyond this to include Lenses, Memories, and Group Chats. Before beginning, newcomers should grasp popular Snapchat lingo.
What Does All of This Lingo Mean?
According to several statistics and studies, most of Snapchat’s users are millennials and Gen-Zers. As a result of those younger users, the app has generated a variety of new unique phrases and titles for its functions, from “snaps” to “stories.” If you need clarification on all this jargon, go through the Glossary part of our Snapchat tutorial before moving on to how the program works.
- Snapchatter: This term is no longer widely used. However, it refers to a Snapchat user.
- Snap: A “snap” occurs when you shoot a photo or video or get a photo or video. When someone asks you to snap them, they mean to send them a photo or video via Snapchat or even a message using the app’s chat function. The Snapchat app is also known informally as “Snap,” as the app’s a developer/public corporation.
- Snapback: This word was popular when Snapchat first began, but it has faded. However, if you’ve heard it, realize that it just signifies a response to a snap. So, when you Snapback, you just respond to a private one-on-one snap.
- Story: You can connect snaps and broadcast them as you take them. Your followers will see them as a “story” reel. They may go through your tale and watch every photo to get a sense of your complete day. A reel can only be played back for 24 hours before it expires forever. However, to save forever, you can always save your entire tale or a single snap from your story to your Snapchat’s Memory area – called private storage.
- Score: Have you ever noticed the number next to a friend’s Snapchat handle? It’s a score based on the number of photos they’ve sent and received, the tales they’ve shared, and other criteria. You may see their score when you press down on a friend’s name in your contact list, story feed, or chat area. And you can find it in the center of your Profile screen, under your Snapcode. The higher your score, the more likely you are to utilize Snapchat.
- Snapstreak: Some of your friends or individuals you follow on Snapchat may have different emojis next to their Snapchat names in the Chat area. This indicates that they are on a Snapstreak with you. In other words, you and that buddy or pals have snapped at each other for more than one day. Go to Settings > Manage > Friend Emojis for a complete list of what each friend emoji signifies.
- Lenses: With the Lenses feature, you can enhance your snaps by adding augmented reality-based special effects and noises. To use lenses, navigate to the Snapchat Camera screen, then long-press on your face in the camera view, and lenses should appear in a row next to the capture button. Swipe around to find the lens you like, then hit the capture button to capture a photo. The ‘rainbow puke’ and ‘dog with tongue’ glasses are popular.
Should You Use Snapchat?
You’ve probably already made your decision. After learning about Snapchat, you’re probably intrigued or skeptical of its existence. If you’re in your teens or twenties, you’re bound to know folks who use Snapchat. The software is aimed at younger generations. This also means it’s a terrific tool for firms aiming to profit in the 18 to 34 market. However, there’s nothing as cringeworthy as a corporation attempting to be “cool.”
Keep this in mind while downloading the app and adding your children. Even if their stories aren’t humiliating, they won’t want to share them with you. Make an effort to stay within your age range. On the other hand, our cell phones are intended to entertain and keep us in contact. Snapchat accomplishes this. It’s a fun service that lets you rapidly capture events without devoting too much time to social media. Is there any danger in trying it? You may also stop using it and remove the app if you decide it’s not for you.
EndNote
You now understand how Snapchat works! If you decide Snapchat is for you, you will soon be using it every day. Snapchat users spend more than 30 minutes each day on average and send 2,083,333 Snaps per minute. Get on board if you believe Snapchat is perfect for you.
Also read: How to Enable Dark Mode on Snapchat?
