More Snapchat secrets

I called out some Snapchat secrets back in October, but as the updates continue, there is always more to learn.

My general perspective on Snapchat stories is that they are not necessary. If I wanted you to see the Snapchat, I would send it to you directly. Since stories were rolled out later, most of my friends that post them downloaded the app after stories were released, so it's easy to tell who the "newbies" are. Plus, they just seem like a photo Facebook status.

While some friends were over for dinner the other night, we were group-Snapchatting some people that weren't there and complaining about stories. Much to my surprise (and scare), I learned that when you post a Snapchat story, you can see who looks at it! I thought this was creepy, because it's like getting a list of everyone who has "seen" your Facebook posts. In addition, I don't like push notifications and clutter, so I often clear out my Snapchat stories (regardless of who sent them) so they don't show up under recent updates. I'm not friends with anyone on Snapchat who I would actually be embarrassed in front of if they knew I watched their "stories," but still wasn't too keen on the concept.

I decided to "research" this firsthand by posting a story or two myself and see how exactly this works:

You click on your own name, see your score and 'best friends,' and then any stories you have posted with the number of eyeballs who have seen it. Then, click the story to see who has viewed.

Under the "story," which was about it being warm enough to bike outside, this is what appears when you click to see the list of everyone who saw it.

My original expectation was that maybe 10 people view these, but I quickly saw that many other people do what I do and clear them out. More than 60 people watched each Snap in 24 hours, which is the majority of my Snapchat contact list. It honestly was an irrational self-esteem boost to think that that many people cared about clicking on it, but placing myself in the situation...I don't always care about the ones I am passively 'watching.' I'm still curious behind the motivations to post a story, but now we all know about this list of those who viewed!

Cross-posting

When an image from one of your blog posts gets posted on another website, and you don't know until your sister points it out here.

20-something problems.

A brilliant tagline

I recently saw a tagline for the popular app Snapchat - that said:
Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment.

In a file on Snapchat's website geared toward parents, the website elaborates on this, and writes: 

"Snapchat creates a place to be funny, honest or however else you might feel when you take and share a snap with family and friends. It’s sharing that lives in the moment, and stays in the moment."

For having a 23-year-old CEO that rejected a $3 billion buyout from Facebook, I think they're doing things pretty smart. Positioning themselves as 'momentary' is a unique selling point against sending a photo from any time via a text message, and the tagline is memorable. As one of the app's users, and a photo-texter as well, I find myself sharing comical tidbits or quick moments out with others with the rest of my friends and family members on the app. 

Way to go on doing your research, Snapchat! 

Lesson of the day: Snapchat metrics

Last night after being added by a friend on Snapchat, I scrolled through my contacts list and came across an interesting feature.

Upon clicking on any one of your contacts' names, you see a "score" as well as each contact's three best friends. WHOA - A LOT OF INFORMATION THERE. Not even surprised that this type of information is public, and being a nerd in general, I did some research as to how these metrics are determined. Are they even valid?

Apparently, I'm not the only one thrown off by this, as a BuzzFeed reporter who was one of the first to call out the feature in the media says, "It's confusing as to why Snapchat would even have a Web presence for user profiles at all-it's a service that's made for phone-to-phone private communication." Well said.

So....getting to the "research":

What is your 'score'?

The total number of points is the total number of Snapchats you have sent and received. If you send a photo to more than one recipient, it's still only worth one point. There are rumors across the internet that each Snapchat is worth 12 points and consecutive photos are worth 20, but this doesn't appear to be true. 

How are your 'best friends' determined?

"Best friends" are supposedly the people you snap the most, but we have to keep in mind that this includes sent and received messages. It seems to be refreshed pretty often, but I could not find a standard measure. In September, Snapchat released a code for users to enter to gain five best friends (instead of three) in their contact lists, which was a big deal in the Snapchat world to tech dorks (or just people who love selfies). 

Has this always been here?
Yes. In fact, I recall seeing it with friends on the old interface, but rather than appearing in-app the score and best friends would pop up in a separate URL. This is still accessible on a mobile device, when you type in snapchat.me/yourusernamehere.

Now to the primary research...is it accurate?
Looks pretty accurate to me. Andrew, Sherman and Shaina have been my best friends since freshman year of college, so I have no shame in them being represented on my Snapchat "best friends" list. We're all in different cities and Andrew & Sherman send Snapchats from their jobs in TV multiple times a week, so I'm not too surprised.

In terms of benchmarking my score, 1,546 seems like a reasonable number since it's a two-way street. Analyzing others' scores, most seemed to have points in the 300-12,000 points range. Many of my personal contacts list appeared to also have scores between 1,000 and 2,000.

So, is your Snapchat score accurate? Are your best friends your ACTUAL best friends, or is there secret flirting going on with someone that your friends didn't know about? What's next, being able to click on someone in your Contacts app, having the capability to identify the top three people someone exchanges text messages with, and a score of how talkative they are based on the quantity of messages? I sure hope not. In the meantime, let's acknowledge the information out there and apply accordingly.