We mentioned Snapchat, one of the most popular apps among teens/students, in our December newsletter (sign up here). It’s something we also discuss in our social media sessions with student-athletes. One day after sending out the newsletter, The Today Show did a story on Snapchat:
The last part of the video is the key. The fact that the pictures disappear (or “self-destruct”) in a matter of seconds, provides student-athletes with security. The problem?
Student-Athletes: In 2 seconds your friends can take a screenshot of your Snapchat pic, then tweet it. Don’t send something you’ll regret.
— Fieldhouse Media (@fieldhousemedia) November 26, 2012
Since we originally wrote this post, Facebook has come out with a Snapchat competitor – Facebook Poke. It does literally the same things as Snapchat. Good Morning America also ran a story on these platforms:
Daily, we see student-athletes tweeting out screenshots that they took from Snapchat. Some are inappropriate, some are just goofy. Regardless, the pictures were intended to disappear in a matter of seconds – not live on in eternity on the internet.
More concerns have also come about, with Buzzfeed uncovering that videos sent via Snapchat (and Facebook Poke) can in fact be saved. Videos that are meant to disappear within a few seconds.
I prefer to focus on the good and positive of social media. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to hear of a truly positive use for Snapchat or Facebook Poke. I asked social media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk, the founder of VaynerMedia (a social media firm working with Coca-Cola, Oprah, the New York Jets and other large organizations), what use he actually saw for Snapchat. His response?
@kevindeshazo sexting
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) December 2, 2012
If we want a picture or video to disappear, odds are good that it’s not an appropriate or positive picture. If that’s the case, it’s best not to send the picture at all.
Are you having conversations with your student-athletes about Snapchat and Facebook Poke?
Fieldhouse Media is a firm dedicated to helping student-athletes and coaches use social media in a positive, appropriate way through education and monitoring. To find out more about us or to join the over 25 schools utilizing our services for their athletic department, contact us today.
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[...] 3. Alert students, parents, coaches, and faculty to new applications that are dangerous. New social media applications emerge daily. Do you know what applications are on your students’ phones? Just recently I sent out a warning about a new application called Chirp that allows a user to send out a picture via signal to anyone in the vicinity with the same application. No filters. See their terms of use here and pay attention to the last paragraph. Applications like this one purport a savvy business use of sharing documents, but their application for privacy is deathly. Snapchat is another dangerous application that is catching on like wildfire with the younger crowd. It’s popularity is driven by the adrenaline of taking risks. [...]