I began to use Snapchat on a regular basis a few weeks ago. It’s great! No really, the filters are dope.. I love transforming myself into my spirit animal or insta-throwing on makeup or looking like a train wreck, all on demand for thrilling self-created assets. The geo filters are also extra swank when it comes to super customization. The amount of unique and fun factors feel just right. I am not overloaded with options, but I have enough to keep me coming back and curious. So how has my time spent across social channels changed? Well, although Snapchat is in the lead for growth and user time spent, I still find Instagram to be a primary social outlet and discovery tool. Like radio, Snapchat is more a frequency, to be tuned into.
For me, I would say my daily social time spent break down, is Instagram 50%, Snapchat 30%, Facebook 20%, approximately. On Instagram, I am not just aimlessly trolling images and wandering without cause. I am usually using Instagram as a compass and means to find things, to find communities, people and places that all speak to me. I am a floral designer, so I look for work of other inspiring designers to follow, learn from and perhaps to connect with offline somewhere down the road. I also discover new music through people posting awesome album art I like. Check out this song I discovered today, because I liked the flower art someone posted associated with this song. But I didn’t even know it was music, until my friend commented on my post, saying she just heard that song, so I went back a few steps, and discovered this tune. Instagram is the only tool I can use for this. Facebook is too dense and like a purge wall with superficial context, so I know I won’t get the authentic thing I am looking for when I go there. Instagram is truly a discovery tool, like twitter is, but in a visual format. Being a visual person, Instagram has always kept me interested longer than twitter, which I rarely now use.
Snapchat is pretty sweet. It’s changed how we communicate with each other. Or at least made the time we do tune into each other more interesting. I send my friends around the world cool video messages, or keep it fun with my husband who is on the road a lot. But at the moment, it’s a tool for communicating for today in a fun way. Because the moment is gone tomorrow, mimicking real life, you can’t reference any visual curation or narrative from the past. And you cannot discover anything new. You can simply tune in, like terrestrial radio… which stations do you tune to?
Hey, is anybody out there..????
