5 Reasons I’m Obsessed with Snapchat

I have to admit, when my friends first started using Snapchat I didn’t get it. So you just send pictures to each other that disappear shortly after? What’s the point of that? It seemed like something created with the intention of only sending promiscuous pictures… if you know what I mean.

Even though I’m obviously very pro-social media (hey, twitter got me the job that changed my life!), I am always hesitant about new platforms. Ugh, another app to obsessively check? No thank you.

It took my awhile to figure out Snapchat and understand the allure, but now I’m absolutely obsessed. While it’s not a fit for all companies, it’s a really awesome space for bloggers and certain types of brands. Yes, I know periscope is the “next big thing” and I’m late to the Snapchat game considering. For now, I’m exploring Snapchat and all it has to offer me as a fitness blogger and here’s why you need to be using snapchat too.

1. It’s not time consuming. Another social media channel to pay attention to means another thing that takes up time. It’s exhausting devoting the necessary time to facebook, twitter and instagram, why would I want to add another app into the mix? Because of the short nature of Snapchat’s videos and the limited space for captions, posting doesn’t take a ton of time whereas I find myself devoting 15 minutes to 1 instagram post between taking the picture picture, editing it and coming up with the perfect caption. It takes 2 seconds for me to snap a picture of my morning run or awesome lunch.

2. It’s easy to stay “up-to-date”. Back in the day, I was the kind of gal that was always up-to-date on my Twitter feed. I was totally addicted and hated feeling like I was missing out on tweets. I was also exploring options similar to how to go about scheduling twitter threads to increase the engagement of my feeds and keep my profile on the top as well. Of course, not on par with the celebrities, but at least much higher than my socials-savvy friends. Anyway, the reason I actually became obsessed with Twitter is American Idiot on Broadway. Cast members would tweet if an understudy was going on and I loved seeing new people fill in for certain roles (yes, I saw American Idiot a lot of times on Broadway. Moving on…)

While I would love to be up-to-date at all times on my instagram and twitter feed, it’s nearly impossible because y’know I work full time. Snapchat makes it easy to see all your friends updates in a short period of time. No more Fear Of Missing Out on social media updates…

3. #Unfiltered. Instagram has changed a lot over the past few years and has become more and more curated. What I mean by that is many bloggers + brands spend a lot of time editing their photos to fit a certain aesthetic look. I’m 100% guilty of this- I constantly take photos with the intention of posting them to instagram but then after editing them I realize the photo isn’t that great, or it doesn’t fit in with the photos I’ve recently posted. I won’t even pretend to have a gorgeously curated feed, but it’s something I’m still super conscious of as a blogger.

Snapchap brings back the joy of unfiltered content. I can show things that aren’t “picture perfect” moments in my life. I can make an unattractive face during my 20 miler that captures how I really feel. I can snap a picture of what I’m eating for lunch (9/10 times it’s sushi or something from byChloe) even though the lighting is meh and it shows my less than photogenic wooden desk at work.

4. You can post multiple times a day. Instagram etiquette is a real thing these days-no one wants their feed clogged up with a new photo from your vacation every 5 minutes.

When I was in San Francisco it was so much fun to post videos and quick pictures from my sight seeing adventures on Snapchat without worrying about clogging up someones feed on instagram.

5. Your content gets seen. Ahhh social media reach, the bane of my existence as a marketing manager. As more and more people hop on the social media bandwagon, getting “heard” in a really loud space becomes more and more difficult. It’s nearly impossible to get your business page on Facebook noticed without putting some money behind the posts. I’ve noticed my twitter engagement has dramatically dropped in the past year or so as well.

Snapchat makes it easy (and free) to get your content noticed once people are following you. While I follow a bunch of people, it’s still pretty easy to click through my friends “Stories” and stay up-to-date with my friend and favorite brands, and that’s true for people following you as well. Building a following might be a bit trickier than on other platforms, however once you post something it’s pretty easy to get your content seen. No more stressing about what time to post etc. Okay, maybe that’s just the social media nerd in me.

Come say “Hi” on Snapchat and follow along with more of my fitness adventures around Manhattan. You can either manually add me (kayla_ruth) or take a photo of the above on Snapchat.

Tell me your thoughts on Snapchat— are you also addicted? Love it? Hate it?