From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative

Snapchat is a real-time social media application created by Stanford Univeristy students, Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. The photo-based application creates a platform for images and videos to be created and then altered by the addition of filters, text and drawings. These images, which are referred to as “Snaps” can then be distributed to a network of friends for a selected duration of time between 1 and 10 seconds. Recent updates to the application allow for the images to be saved to a timeline called My Story and remain visible to friends for up to 24 hours. Over 400 million “Snaps” are sent and received every day ^[1] and the application's growing user interface is maintaining SnapChat’s personal motto for “building a photo app that doesn’t conform to unrealistic notions of beauty or perfection but rather creates a space to be funny, honest or whatever else you might feel like at the moment you take and share a Snap.”^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 Features 2.1 Text 2.2 Image Filters 2.3 Geo Filters

History

Snapchat was first launched in July 2011 as Picaboo, the name was shortly rebranded as Snapchat during the same year. In 2012 the application was released on Android devices shortly followed by an Apple ISO release.^[3] The application quickly grew in popularity and by late 2013 the first major update to the application was launched. The update enhanced the speed and design of the application allowing for swipe navigation, double-tap reply option for users and an improved friend finder - creating a more fluid interface. ^[4] In early 2013 the application launched another update that enabled users to send and alter video snaps and added a text message feature which allowed users to correspond both privately and publicly. The next update introduced the My Story feature of the application which allowed users to post snaps that could be viewed by their whole network instead of single selected friends. Today the application includes features such as customizable text, geo flitters and photo filters multi-color drawing modes that allow the user to interact with their environment and then disseminate the information to a mass of people or a selected individual.

Features

The features of Snapchat allow users to enhance, diminish or recontextualize their environments and produce, for a second party, a hyperfocused and mediated glimpse into their day-to-day life. All photo manipulating features are added to the image after the picture is taken, but before the snap is sent. These features include Text, Image Filters, Geo Filters and Color Drawing.

Text

In the application, users can add text by tapping on the image and then using the built-in keyboard to add a preselected amount of characters. The application links with the keyboards installed on the users phone which allows for multiple language capabilities, including Emojis. The default text is displayed on top on the image set within a semi-transparent grey box. Updates to the application in 2013 and 2014 have allowed for higher customization for added text. On the top right corner of the screen is located a large T set within a white box. by tapping this icon the user can switch through text display options that include the default text a bolded text that is left-aligned and the same bolded text that is center-aligned. With the two bolded text options, the user can manipulate the size, color and angle of the text my pitching a pulling the texts on the screen.

Image Filters

Once the image is captured, Users can swipe with one finger to the right of the image to enable the 3 different Image Filters embedded into the application. The first filter adds a warm and saturated mask over the image. the second filter adds a cool blue mask with saturated highlights and the third filter turns the image into a traditional black and white photograph. These filters can not be combined with any other filters including Geo Filters but can be enhanced with added text and color drawing features.

Geo Filters

In 2014, Snapchat added a second set of filters called Geo Filters. Geo filters are location dependent and are represented by mask images that can be set over the taken snap. To access these filters, one must swipe to the lift or right of the screen once the image has been taken. The first Geo filters were simple and included a large digital clock that displayed the current time of the snap, a speedometer that used the GPS tracking mechanism of the users cell phone to display the speed in which the user was traveling when the image was taken, and a thermometer that displayed the current temperature in either in Celsius or Ferinhight. Most recently these Geo Filters have expanded into, what Snapchat is calling, neighborhoods ^[5]