Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed by four Stanford students.[3][4] Using the app, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10 seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient's device and the company's servers.[5]
Features
During the duration of the viewing period, the recipient must maintain contact with the device's touchscreen which inhibits taking a screenshot (which is allowed) and also notifies the sender if the recipient were to take a screenshot.[6][7] After the set time expires, the image is deleted from the devices and the company's servers.[8]
Snapchat can find the user's friends through the user's smart phone contact list.
Founder Evan Spiegel says Snapchat is intended to counteract the trend of users being compelled to manage an idealized online identity of themselves which he says has "taken all of the fun out of communicating."[7]
Security
With the ability for images to disappear within one second, many experts[weasel words] are concerned that Snapchat may become a vehicle for sexting. When searching "Snapchat" on Twitter, MSNBC found multiple tweets regarding the sexually-oriented use of Snapchat.[9]
Although the app notifies senders if a screenshot is taken of their sent photo, founder Evan Spiegel says the app is not for privacy.[10] Snapchat's privacy policy says it can't guarantee photos won't still be available in some form after the set time has elapsed.[citation needed]
Users
The app's main demographic is users between 13 years to 25 years of age, with a growing 40 and over userbase as of October 2012. 30 percent of Snaps are sent to groups. Snapchat is often used by children to send pictures to their parents of their whereabouts and self-portraits.[8]
History
Snapchat was started by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy as a project for one of Spiegel’s classes at Stanford University where he was a product design major. When Spiegel floated the idea in April 2011 in front of the product design class for his final project, classmates balked at the idea of the impermanent photos.[7] Snapchat was launched in September 2011 in Spiegel's father's living room.[7][10]
In May 2012, 25 images were being sent per second.[6]
As of 28 November 2012, users had shared over one billion photos on the Snapchat iOS app, with 20 million photos being shared per day.[6][11] In November Evan Spiegel said Snapchat was having difficulties with delivering images in real time because of some of problems with scaling as the userbase increased.[6]
As the Snapchat team set to work on its Android app, they discovered that images had letterboxing issues for picture previews. The team spent a month and a half rebuilding the camera function. Snapchat was released on Android on 29 November 2012.[6]
Snapchat raised $475,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lightspeed Ventures.[6]
Business
As of October 2012, Snapchat did not make any revenue.[7] Evan Spiegel said in October 2012 that the Snapchat team was unwilling to be acquired. The team is headquartered in Los Angeles in Evan Spiegel’s father’s house, where it will stay for the “foreseeable future.”[6][8] Spiegel said Snapchat, with just five team members, would be hiring three more engineers before 2013. The current team consists of Spiegel, co-founder Bobby Murphy, two engineers and a community manager.[6]
As of February 2013 Snapchat confirmed a $13.5 million Series A funding round led by Benchmark Capital, which valued the company between $60 million and $70 million.
Marketing
Early on the Snapchat team did not put much effort into branding, instead focusing on usability and technical aspects.[7]
The app's mascot is called Ghostface Chillah, a name derived from rapper Ghostface Killah.[7]
References
External links
