Concept in Definition ABC

The way it is social network worked on the video, being its main element and adding the capabilities of privacy and expiration, it was a shock that caused a earthquake that has even affected Facebook. I'm talking, naturally, about Snapchat.

Born in 2011 in the United States, Snapchat is characterized by allowing the sending, privately, of files and content between users. These contents have an expiration date, which can be configured by whoever generates and sends them.

The app, available for Android and iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) works in a similar way to an instant messaging program and, in fact - although it is not its purpose - it can be used as such.

Users also have a public section, called "Stories", in which they can keep their content published for 24 hours. Later, they can save them permanently in a section called “Memories”.

Although it is possible to send various types of content, such as text and images, Snapchat is best known for being the social network through which videos are sent, the latter being its characteristic and most numerous element.

The social network is promoted as safe and private, since once the contents have "expired", they are eliminated not only from the recipient's account, but also the company's servers, theoretically causing them to disappear for full.

And I say theoretically because there are techniques to save them. How to take a screenshot is disabled, or the user is informed transmitter of the content that said action has been carried out, there are those who have used such simple techniques and, at the same time time, so crude, of superimposing a mobile phone that records the screen of which shows the content of Snapchat.

The contents exchanged, videos, photos, etc., are called "snaps”.

Why so much interest in capturing snaps that expire? For the most part, this is due to the use that teenagers and young users have given this social network.

By allowing the exchange of videos and photos with expiration dates, many young people have taken advantage of Snapchat (especially in its early days) to exchange erotic, "spicy" content with their partners.

This practice, which has generated controversy since practically this social network began to become famous, has also been one of its main growth engines at the beginning, and one of its main problems, since it has led to many “revenge porn” practices, which are legally prosecuted in some countries.

As a social network and company incipient, Snapchat has received both the media attention and the other big companies in the technology sector, such as Facebook, although takeover offers have been rejected by Snapchat, which finally went public in March 2017.

Snapchat's determination to remain an independent company, and the success of its formula, has led other social networks to implement features similar to those it offers.

This is the case with Facebook; Mark Zuckerberg's guys have implemented a Snapchat-like Stories functionality in Instagram and WhatsApp, both owned social networks.

Thanks to this, and despite not being the leading social network in the market, Snapchat has revolutionized the landscape of social networks and continues to do so.

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