Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

College students explain why they love Snapchat so much

What better way to understand the appeal of Snapchat than by asking college students?

Advertisement

That's exactly what researchers did with Cornell students, who said the main reason they like Snapchat is because messages disappear. Unlike Facebook, students said the app is also mainly used to communicate with close friends.

"Their responses indicate that much of Snapchat’s value comes from its support of mundane, everyday conversation among close friends," according to the study, which was shared with Tech Insider. "Ephemerality plays a key role in this by preventing the accumulation of meaningless and potentially embarrassing content."

teens selfie
Shutterstock

Researchers from the Cornell Social Media lab interviewed 25 students (8 male and 17 female) and asked them about how they use Snapchat. Since messages (called "snaps") in Snapchat disappear after they are viewed, participants described the app as "a lot less formal" than Facebook and other social networks.

And since Snapchat's only built-in discovery feature is its ability to scan your phone's contact list for friends, the app encourages communication with real friends.

Advertisement

"Facebook is a lot more acquaintances," said one college student. "Mostly people in my sorority that I’m not trying to be friends with, I think... Snapchat is more close friends and romantic interests."

one of the weirder effects makes a rainbow river flow from your open mouth
Snapchat is chock full of goofy selfie animations, like this puking rainbow one.
Tech insider

The study also affirms a trend that Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has espoused before: Young people are increasingly less interested in looking back at what happened in the past. Snapchat's story feature, which allows you to share snaps of your day with all of your followers, deletes content after just 24 hours.

"I won’t look back at someone’s old photos," said one study participant. "I don’t do that frequently. I’m just interested in the moment and I don’t care about it after I see it, so Facebook, I’m not going to look back on someone’s old photos. A Snap story will go away. I don’t really want to see it again. In a week from now I don’t really care what someone did last weekend, but in the moment it’s nice to see what they’re doing."

Since content disappears in Snapchat, the study notes that there is a greatly reduced risk of snaps being distributed elsewhere on the internet. This makes people feel more comfortable with what they share in the app. You can always screenshot snaps to save them, but that act runs the risk of being confronted by who you're messaging.

Advertisement

"I would confront the person, either text them or in person, just in a mature way say, ‘It’s really important to me that you delete that photo,’ and hope that they delete it," one student said. Another student said that screenshotting in Snapchat was an act "reserved for close friends."

Snapchat
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account