Snapchat is one of the most innovative and fun ways to communicate with friends and keep up with their daily lives. You can send people pictures with messages, emoji stickers, and even cool effects, all while deciding how long you want the recipient to have access to your picture.
Geofilters allow you to display your current location on photos, so when you're trying to show your friends that you do more than watch "How I Met Your Mother," you can add the Manhattan geo-filter to that super cool selfie you took in Times Square.
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This New Year's, I saw people from my high school who I haven't seen since graduation, and yet, I was able to ask them about specific aspects of their past few years in college—all because I've been constantly updated through their snap stories.
Snap stories are basically Snapchats that your whole list can see for the next 24 hours. This makes for great conversation starters, but also makes for a very awkward situation when you ask about their boyfriend by first name and they respond with, "How did you know his name?"
Along with a way to update your not-so-close acquaintances on what you had for lunch or what Netflix show you are currently binge-watching, Snapchat is essential in flirting these days. When I asked Cornell sophomore Rich Rosin about his experience with snap-flirting he responded, "It's a really convenient way to engage girls in conversation.
Sometimes texting a girl you met in passing at a party is a little too forward, but Snapchatting "neck-tarines" with two nectarines under your chin can be the perfect ice breaker.
Rich raises a very good point. If you're trying to spark a flame with someone without jumping the gun by sending the first text, shoot them a casual snap of half your face with the caption "boreddddd" (or the one about nectarines). Not only can you see when they opened it, but chances are they'll accidentally answer you even if they didn't want to because now you appear in their recents!
While Snapchat is a way to open the door to new relationships, it often makes it difficult to close the door on a previous one. Trying to get over someone is definitely not easy to do when you're constantly seeing them around, especially if it's when you haven't even left your room. We are all guilty of refreshing our Snapchat stories a thousand times over to see if our ex posted a snap story.
Additionally, we are all guilty of posting something to our story that will make our ex jealous, whether it's a hot selfie or a picture showing off the guy we're currently hanging out with. The worst part of all of it is checking every ten minutes to see if they've viewed it.
Snapchat is like a window into people's lives, which has its perks and its drawbacks. While you're constantly updated on your friend's lives and don't even need to text them to know what they're doing, you're also constantly updated on the lives of people that you may not really want to know much about. However, no one can honestly say that they don't love sending ridiculously ugly pictures with the assurance that they will never be saved.
