Why are we so obsessed with Snapchat (Snapchat, Inc.), and are there risks to our obsession? Unfortunately, humans are all a little narcissistic — we love to talk about ourselves and compare our lives, often competitively, with our peers. So when given the opportunity to use an application that promotes taking of “selfies” and encourages its users to advertise their entire life to their friends, it is no wonder more than 200 million users are doing just that despite the inherent risks involved.

In a study administered by Sumpto, Inc., a company working with approximately 50,000 college-age social media users reported 77 percent of the college students surveyed used Snapchat daily.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel made a video explaining why Snapchat is so attractive to younger users and how it ties into their sense of identity, saying “The mobile phone has really empowered this idea of instant expression.”

“Instant expressions says ‘my identity is who I am right now, it says I’m the result of everything I’ve ever done but I’m not really the accumulation of all that stuff,” he went on.

Snapchat Stories, a prominent feature on the application, allows users to post their “snaps” to one section in which they are visible to the user and all their friends. Snapchat even created an “add to stories” icon so photos and videos can be uploaded to a story without even leaving the camera screen.

The CEO then described how Snapchat’s Stories sets the app apart from other social media networks by sharing moments sequentially,:

“Most social media has all of your pictures and videos in reverse chronological order, so you see the end before you see the beginning,” Spiegel said. “But on Snapchat, if you’re looking at a birthday party, you get to watch the birthday unfold — beginning, middle and end — which really gives it a familiar feeling because that’s the way we’ve been telling stories forever.”

One of the key factors of Snapchat among millennials, as with any social media platform, is that it acts as a highlight-reel. Unlike Instagram, Inc. and Facebook, Inc., however, where users are particular about what their friends and followers see, the subject matter that would usually meet the prerequisites for being “postable” is different on Snapchat. The material people decide to post to their friends and stories could be anything as interesting or as mundane as one could imagine.

The content millennials see from their friends on Snapchat often resonates and frequently inspires action – typically in the form of a comment or a post of their own. From real-time videos of concerts and parties all the way down to someone’s morning coffee preference. With an application where it is acceptable for self-centered people to share everything and anything at all at the touch of a finger, it is hardly surprising Snapchat is so popular among younger generations.

Feels too good?

In fact, a recent study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan observing 154 college students reported that Snapchat produced “more enjoyable” interactions than any other social media platform. Given, the sample used in the study is not representative of the greater U.S. population, as the participants were mostly young wealthy college students, lead study author Joseph Bayer explained. However, as the university’s press release said, at least for undergraduates at Michigan, Snapchat was reported as the only interaction more rewarding than face-to-face communication. If the study’s findings showed to be true based on a larger population, the current generation could be in great danger. An application that challenges our face-to-face communications could potentially hinder some interactions we have in real life.

Furthermore, the popular application might not be as safe as one would like it to be. According to two forensics experts, Andrea London and Kyle O’Meara of forensics firm Stroz Friedberg, data can be retrieved by Snapchat, even though the images users send delete after a short amount of time.

The central premise behind Snapchat is that what you are sending is private, which is quite untrue. There is a risk that everything being shared within an application has the potential to become public. It is quite possible that one day, every image sent may become associated with the user’s name. When something is posted, the user gives up the ability to control where that post goes. On Snapchat, that initial “private picture” could one day appear on a Google search of one’s name.

Be careful what you put out there…

photo credit: Snapchat via photopin (license)