Launched in 2011 by two young adults, Snapchat is a social
media app where users can share snaps (i.e., pictures and short
videos that can include text and drawings) with friends that ‘disappeardforeverdin
a matter of seconds’ (Colao, 2012; para 1;
www.snapchat.com). The sender can determine how long the
viewer can view the Snap (between one and ten seconds).
Although, it is possible for the receivers of snaps to take a screen
shot on their device and save the photo, but the sender is notified
when a snap is saved. Snapchat also uses an algorithm to calculate
who the user snaps the most, which allows for public identification
of who the users' “best friends” are (see https://support.snapchat.
com/a/bestfriends). The Pew Research Center only recently began
tracking the number of adult Snapchat users (Duggan, 2013).
Duggan (2015) indicated that 17% of adult smartphone owners use
Snapchat. Among the adult population, young adults (18e29 years
old) are the age group with the largest number (41%) of Snapchat
users (Duggan, 2015).