Out of all the apps on my phone, SnapChat is probably one of the few that I use the most daily. It's a fun new way of communicating with picture messaging that doesn't take five minutes to send, AND you can send weird or funny pictures and they simply "disappear." But do they really always go away forever? Do the right people always receive them?
SnapChat is intended for friends to communicate with each other, but I have gotten countless requests of users that I have no idea of their identity or how they found me. On occasion I would accept the request to see the snap they sent me, and if I didn't know them I would delete the request. But during that brief time of acceptance, it's possible that the user could access some of my personal information.
There is an entire website devoted to leaked photos from SnapChat, and they are screen shots of pictures that they were sent. It's possible to keep those pictures that we are supposed to see for three or so seconds, and once a screen shot is taken the photo is fair game. Some users don't send any incriminating photos, but many users find the app a perfect way to send nude, sexual, or illegal activity photos without worrying of them circulating. These people hold a lot of trust in who they are sending them to.
Not to mention a few months prior, there were multiple articles on how a hacker leaked millions of SnapChat accounts and phone numbers to the general public. Ultimately the creators of the app did not have much to say in response, only they would add various security measures and told the users to be more careful with what information they handed out.
I really do believe that SnapChat is a fun and clever app that helps me keep in touch with my friends in a different type of personal way. But it's also very easy to let the privacy wall down and potentially send a picture out there that will be documented somewhere. We never know where our pictures will end up or if it'll really disappear, so everyone should be careful with what they send.
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