By Kelly Kim
Staff Writer
Whether you prefer Instagram, TikTok or any other social media app, there are dozens of ways in which people nowadays are able to connect, communicate and share their lives with one another.
One of the most popular forms of social media upkeep at the College is Snapchat. Students are able to see each other's lives in a matter of seconds through the stories that are posted.
Upon entering the College, I had realized that Snapchat offered a feature in which you could join your school's Snapchat story that corresponds with your graduating class. At first this seemed exciting and clever. What better way to meet new people than through the stories they post and striking up conversation?
Though it seemed as though stories were not being posted much, more activity began to happen as the school year started, especially on the College’s “Class of 2027” Snapchat story.
The Snapchat story for the Class of 2027 did not seem to have much traction at the start. But as the semester progressed, the story continues to be updated with new and somewhat questionable stories.
From food reviews at Eickhoff Hall, to selling unwanted clothes or shoes, the stories have strayed away from the original content it was posting. More interesting content is being uploaded now. For example, a student promoting another student’s relationship status and asking if anyone was interested in them.
While posts as such are jokes, the oddity of the content cannot be denied, and though the contents of a post like that are very harmless, one cannot help but do a double take when viewing it in real time.
Aside from sharing personal information, the app is very good for other, less personal forms of communication. This includes sharing lost ID cards or dorm keys in hopes of finding its owner. These Snapchat stories provide a sense of ease that other apps perhaps couldn’t do such as the Roar app as with it being more well-known and frequently used as means of communication, students are more bound to open the app to check notifications over the aforementioned app.
Had it not been for the Snapchat story, several students at the College would be panicking over their belongings, unsure as to whether or not it was stolen or just lost.
Snapchat stories give students a higher chance of seeing if their belongings were lost, because it is one of the most frequent stories that are posted.
As is with any major social media app, there are positive and negative aspects to its features, uses and the content that is uploaded.
The ways in which social media is utilized is helpful for the most part, as there are many benefits that aid more than just the person themselves. While students should proceed with caution in the content that they normalize and share, the stories are ultimately there to create connections and share snippets of each other’s lives.
