“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Teens in the present era have been using an app called “Snapchat” to share their pictures with friends. Snapchat has been a mobile app that allows users to send photos and videos to other friends with the app. The sender can determine how long the receiver can view the picture, and after the set time, the picture disappears from the receiver’s device.

The idea for Snapchat was created in April 2011 when co-founder Reggie Brown had the idea that the photos that he was sending his friend would disappear. The app was originally called “Pictaboo” and was launched in July 2011, but after some disagreements, the name was changed to “Snapchat,” which has been what the popular app still has held today. By February of 2013, Snapchat was seeing over 60 million snaps a day. By May of 2013, the number was up to 150 million snaps a day. In June 2013, “Snapchat raised $80 million at a reported valuation of $800 million,” according to TechCrunch writer, Jordan Cook.

In August of 2014, Snapchat had around 100 million monthly users and approximately 400 million snaps that were shared per day. This app was available for anyone who has had an Apple or Android phone. That being the case, age has not mattered, so everyone ranging from children, elders, teens and adults have been using the app.

Snapchat has been classified as social media, and though some may argue that social media has been harmful, there have been some positives that balance out the negatives. Benjamin Reinert, staff writer from Mercyhurst University, said, “In addition, because the pictures delete after you see them on your device, you will have the same amount of memory as before the picture was on the device.”

Snapchat is also a way for friends to connect with each other. A common activity between friends is who can make the silliest snapchat that gives people an opportunity for a great laugh.

Additionally, according to the Huffington post, “Snapchat has become a tool used for bullying and underage sexting.” However, with every positive there is a negative. Since Snapchat has the function that the pictures are deleted automatically, the freedom can be abused in the case of sexting. There has also been “loophole” functions and apps. However, if a user can perform it quickly enough, he or she can screenshot the picture, and it will be saved to his or her gallery. People have also created apps that automatically screenshot a user’s snaps.

To sum up, Snapchat was born from an idea when a college boy wished that the pictures that he was sending to his friend would disappear immediately. The business became widely successful with millions of users sending snaps every day.

Altogether, some would argue that snapchat is a waste of time, but at the end of the day, it is just an app.