Notes

Section 1: History
The first data-deleting app on the scene, Snapchat made a splash among other social media platforms as a way to quickly connect with friends through disappearing photos. Data-deleting apps are those that automatically delete data after a certain time frame.
Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, who had met during their senior year at Stanford University, introduced Picaboo in September of 2011. This first version of Snapchat allowed users to send and receive pictures that would disappear automatically. However, if someone screenshot a photo the sender would be notified. The founders wanted a space where users could share the not-so-picture-perfect pictures with their friends; they wanted to focus on the “real” moments of life.
Picaboo didn’t gain much traction, so in 2012 the app was rebranded and relaunched as Snapchat and became the biggest no-revenue app since Instagram.
8.1.1
8.1.1
That same year Snapchat became available for Android users, which led to the spike in use and popularity.
By December of 2012, videos had been introduced to the platform. These 10-second videos marked the first big update since the app’s rebranding. What was even more impressive was the notice this app received from much bigger social platforms. With declining engagement among teenage users, Facebook saw the potential of this young app and its audience as a way to increase market share. Facebook offered up a massive $3 billion acquisition that Snapchat quickly turned down. This attention from Facebook added further proof that Spiegel and Murphy had tapped an overlooked market that was rich with potential.
As Snapchat has grown and expanded to more than 300 million monthly active users, it’s experienced some major changes as well. Let’s take a look at some of Snapchats app updates:
2013
STORIES
Posting to your “story” is the same as posting to a public timeline. Any photos or videos posted to your story are viewable for 24 hours by all those who follow you.
2014
CHAT
Chat allows followers to respond to your individual snap or story through a text-based thread. These messages will also disappear after 24 hours unless saved.
GEOFILTERS
Geofilters are filters available to you depending on your location. These filters will usually include the city and state you’re located in or a popular attraction in that area.
SNAPCASH
Snapchat teamed up with PayPal to introduce Snapcash, a new way to send money to friends or followers.
2015
DISCOVER
The discover page showcases the Snap Stories of Snapchat’s publishers. These publishers include DailyMail, Tastemade, Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed, National Geographic and many others. These publishers produce content daily on their stories, a mobile arm of their other publishing efforts.
LENSES
Lenses are facial-recognition filters that appear when users take selfies or photos of friends. These lenses modify the user’s appearance depending on the lens. When this update was first released, many users couldn’t get enough of the enlarged eyes and rainbow glitter spilling from their mouths.
2016
SNAPCHAT MEMORIES
This update gave users the option to save photos or videos that they’d posted to their story, to Memories. This content could then be saved to the user’s camera roll or reposted to his or her story.
GROUP MESSAGING
Users can create custom groupings of their followers to send Snaps to and to chat with. This feature is similar to a group text message.
2017
WORLD LENSES
World Lenses take advantage of advancements in VR to allow users to add digital elements to their environments.
LIMITLESS SNAPS
Instead of the usual 1- to 10-second time limit on snaps, “infinity” became an option for senders. The post still expires after 24 hours.
CUSTOM STORY
Users can create custom stories for events or gatherings they host. Multiple users can contribute to the story, and the creator can limit who can view the custom story.
SNAP MAP
The Snap Map shows the location of all the individuals you follow. For users to appear on the map they need to have a Bitmoji created and to configure their privacy settings to allow Snapchat to display their location.
CONTEXT CARDS
This feature allows users to learn more about a specific Snap they’re viewing. Viewers can access more information about a location tagged in a Snap or order a ride through Uber to get there.
LENS STUDIO
This studio grants all Snapchat users the opportunity to create and share custom lenses.
You can keep up with all of Snapchat’s new developments here: Snapchat News