Welcome to my life, Snapchat

Snapchat is a simple application to use at its surface level, even children have accounts. You take pictures or videos of yourself and your surroundings, and share it with your followers. Seems simple, right? Well, think about how difficult it must be to grab the attention of people that you don't know and convince them to follow your every move through a simple five to 10 second clip. Not too easy, right? That's what I've realized after I watched my completed Story showing my typical day as a student of Syracuse University.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of the project. I am a friendly person who genuinely enjoys talking to people, especially about myself. I'm also an avid user of Snapchat, so I was excited to incorporate one of my favorite social media apps, which I use as entertainment, with my academics.

I went about my normal day, filming everything from waking up to going to the gym. I followed the directions, but after watching my Story at the end of the day, I realized that I missed something incredibly important, making my Story interesting. There was nothing out of the ordinary about my posts and I wasn't creative in the way that I communicated with my fictitious audience. If I was actually sharing this with people, I'm not sure if they'd have any interest. Let's take a look at my story so you can see where I'm coming from.

Take away #1: Film from different perspectives. For example, I could've had a friend film me or I could've filmed my surroundings on my own. It would've been a good idea to film from different angles as well.

Take away #2: Add music and stickers. When I was introducing my Story for the day, I could've started with some upbeat music or incorporated it into other snippets from my Story.

Take away #3: Use the Snapchat filters and stickers to its full potential. Although I used a few stickers and geotags, I could've done more with the filters to make my Story more fun.

As we can see, Snapchat is a great source of immediate communication. Through your story you are able to show your followers what you are doing at that exact minute, just like an Instagram story. The story feature on Instagram is similar to Snapchat with the geotags, filters, and stickers. I think these applications are popular because people want to see what their friends or people they idolize do everyday. These platforms create an emotional attachment, causing viewers to become invested in the people that they follow. As a follower, I appreciate the fast-paced nature of Stories, but as a content creator I found it difficult to keep up with. Despite the time consuming upkeep of stories, I can see why it is such a strong platform for public figures, influencers, celebrities, and other icons. It's quick, transparent, and you can add to it at any moment in time, from anywhere.

I know that I listed all of the things I did wrong, so I'm going to save myself a little bit and make the point that I didn't do everything wrong. I stuck to the theme of the day, my life as a Syracuse student, rather than posting random bits of my day. In addition, I was direct in the way I addressed my audience and posted consistently. Although posting after long periods of time creates suspense, nothing is more annoying for viewers than showing them a bit of a story and leaving them wondering how it ended. With confidence, I can say that the final product showed my typical Monday and I enjoyed creating it. I liked the fact that I was able to practice talking in front of a camera and now, I know the strategies I will use to create more captivating stories in the future.

If you found this little project interesting, try it for yourself! You might learn a thing or two.