You’ve probably heard of the Snapchat app in the news (or even heard your kids talking about it!), but you really aren’t sure what it is, right? Turns out, Snapchat is a great tool for sharing stories with friends using photos – you can even share photos without using up any memory on your smartphone. Using videos, photos and a little bit of text you can send friends, family and connections a quick note that will actually disappear just moments after it’s been read. Wild, right? You can even control how long the recipient can spend viewing the message before it disappears.
Opening a Snapchat account is pretty simple – just download the app to get started. It will walk you through a series of prompts to build your account, including creating a user name and entering info like your birthdate, email address and other identifying info. You’ll soon be texted a confirmation code to launch your newly set up account. Once it’s all good to go, Snapchat will access the contacts in your phone to let you know who of your friends and family is already using the app. You’ll have an instant list of Snapchat friends! Now that you’re in, you’ll want to get started. Here are a few tips for your first Snapchat:
- Open the Snapchat app.
- If you’d like to send a photo to a friend, tap the camera icon and take a shot (or a video, your choice!).
- Add a fun caption or note and select which friends will receive this message.
- The coolest part: you can even handwrite text or draw pictures on your images using the editing tool. Make something creative that your friends will love.
- Decide exactly how long you’d like the message to be readable and hit send!
- And, you’re off! You have officially sent your first Snapchat message. You can even swipe after the fact, to see if your friends have viewed your message.
If you’re more of a text-only type of person, Snapchat has what you’re looking for. One of its newest features allows users to send text-only messages. Just swipe the name of the person you’d like to chat with and enter your text. Hit send and you’re good to go. Be sure to note, however, the text-only messages work just like the photo messages – disappearing after a few moments.
Such a great tool for having quick convos with friends and family – especially if you want to send an image but you’d like to save memory on your smartphone. Have you tried Snapchat? Got any tips to share?
