Over the last two years, I have been reporting a migration of teens (digital natives) to an emerging social media sector – self-destructing messaging apps. Snapchat is clearly the dominant and most popular application in this area. I have reported several times about Snapchat and why parents should be concerned about allowing their child to have this app on their device.

SnapChat allows the user to send text, images, and video to another Snapchat user. The recipient receives a notification that the sender has sent them a “snap” and it will appear in their Snapchat inbox. The sender must assign a lifespan to that message. It can be up to 10 seconds for images and texts, and longer for videos. Once the recipient opens the message, they must hold their finger on the screen for the message to play and count down to zero. The finger on the screen is to discourage the recipient from taking a screen shot, which is usually a two handed operation. Once the message reaches zero on the timer, the message deletes itself from the recipient’s phone. Or does it?

I teach a Cyber Safety Cop Workshop to thousands of students every year. It gives me the opportunity to ask them their feelings about social media and how they communicate with each other. Students are clearly telling me they are choosing Snapchat as one of their primary ways to communicate with each other. Why are they choosing Snapchat? The following are the reasons stated by a 15-year-old on her blog. These are the same reasons I hear from my students:

• There’s no social pressure. No likes, no comments, just views that only you can see.
  It’s quick and easy. Open Snapchat and take a photo, add it to story. Now all your friends can be jealous in real-time that they couldn’t go to the party because they had to study like a good boy. Instagram is a lengthy process to say the least.
• It’s the place now. Instagram is getting a bit.. a bit.. a bit too ol ...