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At the snap of your fingers

Last Updated 17 November 2015, 18:50 IST

The current generation is more about visuals than words, and with plenty of photo apps on both iOS and Android devices, youngsters are taking over social media sites to tell their stories’.

    The latest app that caters to your visual senses is ‘Snapchat’, which allows the sender of a message to draw or insert text on a picture and determine how many seconds (one to 10) the recipient can view it before the file disappears from the device. The messages can be viewed only once.

And unlike other picture sharing apps, it doesn’t take up space on your phone. If the sender wants to save a picture they can but nothing is automatically saved.

Aliya Thomas, an avid ‘Snapchat’ user is very happy with the interface the app provides.

She says, “The app right now is becoming really fun because of its various updates. Earlier it was just filters on the picture — which was unique in its own — but now it has other cool features that animate the picture.”

And she doesn’t take that much caution as to what goes on her ‘list of stories’ because, “Every other story that goes on it is more or less about how one does something the whole day, and in that routine, you can’t always pose and look pretty.” And as the pictures can’t be saved, youngsters need not worry about who sees them.

 For Krithika Raghavan, it’s more about viewing different kinds of pictures and videos each day. “It’s not practical to send everything you do using WhatsApp or Instagram. No one wants to see that coffee cup everyday. But with this app, it makes your every day work look nicer, and I look forward to seeing my friends’ activities without having to save every moment.”

“The time aspect is great because I can choose to see it or not; it’s upto me,” she adds.
The app also has an option of geo-targetting the snaps with filters that are specific to each state. During certain festivals, users can also send festival related snaps to the username which will be published worldwide. ‘Snapchat’ has an option of adding people from your friends list (from other social networking sites), using their username or Snap code. Though the pictures and videos are saved on the story for only 24 hours, if the recipient were to save the picture by the sender, the sender will immediately be informed about the action.

“I like how the app has a lot of privacy embedded in it as it helps to know if someone’s taking a screenshot of your pictures. It’s a pretty white box that way,” says Karthik Jannu, another user.

It’s not just the trend of updating your daily activities that draws youngsters to use the app, but also that it’s mostly only used by youngsters. Soumya Abraham says, “It’s mostly just youngsters who use this app; it’s not been invaded by parents yet. 

So it gives a chance for many to send pictures and videos without having to worry about everyone seeing it. The app also has an advantage that you can easily share your activities to the world and not give the notion that you’re taking over someone’s wall with all your updates. You can send all your ugly, crazy pictures and videos to your friends without spamming their galleries.”

Unfortunately, not every youngster is keen about using the app. Vivek Gupta uninstalled the app because it was making his phone slow.

  “The app was very helpful when I went home for vacations as my friends and I would exchange snaps. It was very handy when we had to work on a project too. But I found it a bit annoying when it kept showing that I have a message from a friend and when I finally open it, there’s nothing to view. The video option is pretty cool, but if it were more than 15 seconds, it would have been great,” he explains.

So whether it’s to stay in touch with your friends or to know what others are upto, there’s yet another app that connects many youngsters from around the globe to share their daily affairs.

As Meera Hinduja, a ‘Snapchat’ user, says, “It’s a fun app that everyone can use without having to look perfect in all your pictures and videos.”

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(Published 17 November 2015, 18:50 IST)

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