I was recently in discussion with my friends, reminiscing about the old social media days. We were reminiscing on the old brown Instagram, the old and way too Instagram informational bios, and of course, the old and popular Snap chat.
Now, I am not sure if this is the case for everyone, but, I feel as though Snap chat has really taken a backseat to the social media app popularity contests. I remember the days when snap streaks ruled people’s lives, and the snap chat stories were a topic of drama, even those strange but cool Snap chat glasses. Snap chat was the pioneer for many social media elements today such as stories. Snap chat was the first app that developed stories, where users could post a photo or video update, much like Facebook status updates. Not too far after, Instagram stole the story idea, and now Instagram stories are more popular. The Snap chat story was such a moment that even Twitter recently added stories to their app.
Another pioneer moment for Snap chat was the fun filters. I remember the day that the Snap chat filters were released, I was sitting at lunch my sophomore year of high school, and it was all people were doing. Again, Instagram soon followed suit and added filters to their app.
With all of this being said, I believe that Snap chat does not get enough credit and does not get enough attention.
This may be only occurring within my generation of college students, but I believe that social media apps such as Instagram and Tik Tok are taking the throne. Instagram has been on the rise for the past couple of years with the development of Instagram stories and influencers. Influencers have had a huge role in Instagram’s popularity. A reason for this is because Instagram is much more public and a filtered app, and we as a society much prefer to see people’s perfect filtered lives rather than a grainy 10-second Snap chat video. As for the popularity of Tik Tok, this app has grown in popularity in huge amounts. Thanks to this global pandemic quarantine we are all in, Tik Tok has become a coping mechanism. Thanks to the 15-second to one-minute videos, it is easy to lose track of time. Some may say that Tik Tok is gaining a larger following than Instagram.
With all of this being said, it can be seen that Snap chat was truly the pioneer for many social media apps. Instagram and Twitter would have never developed stories, Tik Tok probably would have never developed the video aspect and never forget the funny filters that are seen not only still on Snap chat but Instagram and Tik Tok. Like I said before, I can only speak to my college generation, but if Snap chat wants to get back on top, then they need to release another idea and trademark it this time!