The Truth Behind Instagram // Why I Joined SnapChat

I think I've posted before about my first ever Instagram post - it was, shall we say....horrible.  Since I joined Instagram back in 2011-ish my Insta-game has been pumped up with the help of various apps, photo tips, and an increase of photo quality on the tiny computer I call my phone. 

Instagram has become perfectly curated and overly filtered.  Which I personally think this is great.  It is a micro-blogging platform (pretty sure I said that before too) and I love that I can create perfectly curated, unique content and promote other platforms through Instagram.  In a bid to find a way to be more candid and offer a behind the scenes sort of look into my actual & unfiltered daily life, I'd first considered the new option to switch accounts on Instagram.  Then my BFF introduced me to Snapchat.

So I joined Snapchat - turns out I'd joined before and claimed the @fivesixteenths username then quickly gave up because I'm an old lady.  But I'd like to think past me for being smart and thinking about future me.  (Pro tip : I do suggest signing up for new social media platforms in order to claim your business or personal username in case this app because super popular in the future, you won't have to have something funky across multiple platforms.)  

Snapchat gives the perfect, fleeting & unfiltered insight into someone's actual life.  Sending Snaps between friends is better than a text because, believe it or not, there is no pressure.  You get like 10 seconds to send a video snap so you're forced to interact from a distance much like you would if you were in the same room - unfiltered.  For me, it's much easier (#lazy) to take snap in response to my friend's snap instead of taking a photo, opening the texting app, selecting the photo and sending (or taking a photo from the app and sending).  I feel less curated and it's more in the now than trying to send off a stylized version of reality.

Snapchat also fills my need for daily vlog style interaction.  I've always want to upload vlogs to my YouTube channel but I feel awkward about it and I don't have time to edit that all the time.  Adding photos and video to my Story on Snapchat gives me that vlog style thing I want with out being committal.  If I were smart, I could also download my Story at the same time each day to have it as a record....but like I said #lazy.  I love that I can get a quite nearly real time look into the lives of my friends that I may not talk to on the regular, or a look into the lives of popular personalities that I may follow on other social platforms.

The thing I don't quite like about Snapchat is how hard it is to add friends or follow people you want to follow.  Searching by username is tedious and I really don't know if I'm following the right person half the time.

All in all, I joined Snapchat because it's quick, easy, and unfiltered.  It's also pretty fun to play with all the hilarious filters and send weird faces to your friends and followers.  It's as real life as a social platform can get, I think.

So follow me on Snapchat if you wish.  You won't regret it.

xoxo, Moe