Where would we be without social networks? We depend on these apps, websites and technologies pretty much do everything. There are different characteristics to these social networks that make them different from the rest. Although they may have the same goals, people prefer specific apps or websites for different reasons. For example, when looking at news social networks we have Facebook and Snapchat. Facebook has been, and still is, the most popular social networks an expected number of 1.69 billion users in 2020. One of the main reasons that it is one of the most popular social networking apps is because it reaches out to many different generations like grandparents, parents and even younger siblings. But, when we compare the users of Facebook to the users of Snapchat, we can see a difference in the age of the users. Snapchat has a smaller amount of users of 210 million in 2019, but keeping in mind that 90%  of users are from ages 13 to 24. Because of these apps we have access to news, communication with friends, and sharing content. 

I downloaded Facebook specifically for college. I had no desire to have the app entertainment reasons but rather for social reasons to find a roommate for school. On the other hand, Snapchat is one of the more important apps that I use on a day to day basis. I have been using Snapchat since my freshman year of high school along with all of my friends. Since we started using the app at such a young age, we became dependent on it. 

Snapchat, in short, is for communicating with friends, sharing content, and discovering news. There are a lot of details that go into these characteristics in the app. When communicating with friends there are “streaks”, which is a numerical count of the amount of days that you and your friend in a row. In my opinion, this is one of the smartest ways to keep users attached to the app. My friend and I have a streak of 1,714 days meaning we have had this streak for more than 4.5 years. This small tweak in the update made this one of our most important communication sources along with a number of other loyal snapchat users. 

Not only is Snapchat for communicating but it also provides information. The discover page provides many news sources that so many people use on a daily basis. This news ranges from entertainment to politics to animal planet.

Overall, Snapchat provides the necessities for social media app. Even with just WiFi, you can still direct message, send pictures, and look up news. Because of the fact that Snapchat is so accessible, it’s most likely going to be around for a long time. My friends and I always say, “Are we going to be snapchatting each other about how annoying our kids are when we’re 40?” Even though we joke about it there is still a possibility that we will be using Snapchat to keep in touch with our grandkids.