How To Explain to Your Dad Why Snapchat Is So Awesome

Note: This post was written in May 2015. Snapchat and the social media landscape have changed a lot since then. I’m keeping it here as a time capsule of what the platform felt like early on.

A recent article written by Jeremy Liew, titled “If you don’t “get” why Snapchat is growing so fast, read this,” and a conversation with my anti-Snapchat Dad has had me thinking about why Snapchat has been taking off. I tried to explain to my Dad what I liked about it, but it ended with me telling him that “he just doesn’t get it,” and shuffling off in defeat. However, I think I can better defend Snapchat today.

Jeremy Liew writes, “To write it off as just a sexting app is to underestimate the power of its simplicity. I’ve been sending snaps to friends for a couple of weeks and there’s something very liberating about taking a quick photo. It can be a crappy photo. It can be silly. I don’t need to spend 15 minutes setting up the perfect shot or scrolling through filter options.”

I totally agree with his point on simplicity is the key to Snapchat’s success. To expend so much can be communicated through an image that cannot be delivered through text. One of the struggles with emails and texting is that the sender’s intent is often lost without facial and verbal cues. Snapchat easily breaks down this wall, and in a world where our social interactions become ever more digital, the more human we can get the better.

Other details can be more simply communicated with an image than would with other traditional methods (Yikes, I just referred to texting as traditional!). Such as what you are doing or where you currently are.

I am a proponent of adding emotional context to all forms of communications (yes, even professional work-related emails!). Emoticons and selfies are a friendly way to share ideas.

Long story short, Snapchat is simply awesome.