By now, you may have already been reading my personal experiences with this tool and asking yourself, Am I Ready for Snapchat?  In this post, I’ll go through my own personal reactions to this platform because it’s been an interesting journey.

It started out with this need to figure out why so many younger people were using Snapchat and to overcome my own personal bias against it.  I also wanted to understand how to use it because it was so user-UNfriendly.

If you want to read more about the background, check my first post Reflections of Snapchat through Facebook Mutterings and my recent post, People Who Show Their Work on Snapchat. 

The Discovery Process

Someone on Twitter asked me, “How do you find people?”

I’m not going to lie, it’s been a long and laborious task to search, view and select Snapchatters to follow.  There have been times when I questioned myself on why I’m doing it.  I’ve lost count on the hours spent on this platform because the discovery process is not as simple as say finding people on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. You don’t know who is on Snapchat, nor do you know who they are following.  By default, you need to put in the time to seek out people and organisations you want to follow.

You can take the long hard road of doing Google and keyword searches of Snapchat related articles and lurk in snaps, to view one after another ad nauseum, in the hope that people will share some clues on who they are following.

Other times, you may stumble upon what is know as a Snap Takeover (where two snappers take over each other’s accounts) and share their stories about people to follow.  Alternatively, you may use an app like GhostCodes that will help you find people.

However, you will not escape the fact that you will need to commit time to the search and discovery process. (Hey, what do you know, exactly like real life networking and learning!)

For this factor alone, I know many people in business will simply not use it for themselves because it requires a level of upfront time and commitment to not only learn the platform but to search and view snaps that will build their own “Mobile Professional Network Snap Channel” or question the need for them to have their own broadcast platform.

Many will also be fighting their own prejudices against the tool.  Or, put it down to it being another fad.  They simply do not want yet another social medium wasting their time and energy. I get that.

It’s not for everyone, nor does it have to be.

At the same time, I also understand that there are many younger people who don’t have these concerns.  They’re already on the tool and use it daily.  To them, your concern is not their concern – in fact, they really don’t care what you think because they’ll use it in the manner that they want to use it. (I asked the question to a recent presentation to graduates at an Internal Audit conference and more than 70% of them were using Snapchat).

So this is what I find intriguing.  Their BEHAVIOURS not the TOOL.  I’m watching people use a platform in a whole different way comfortable with interacting with strangers and friends all through their mobile devices and:

• Connecting and sharing stories of their lives, interests, hobbies and their work.
• Expressing their creativity
• Creating their own content and stories to share 
• Showing their work; asking for feedback and seeking engagement with you.

And to really understand it, you have to be in it.  You have to be willing to give it a go yourself.  This means that you have to get comfortable getting ‘out there’ and having people watch you, learn from you.

If you thought getting on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn was difficult for you, this is a whole different ball game. Be prepared to be challenged – and at the same time, have some fun.

Snapchat is like mobile television – everyone is watching their own curated channels and interacting with their “television shows” …and you might be someone’s television show.

But guess what? Your television show need not be a high-end production number. You don’t need to act superficial or hide behind an avatar or a company profile.  In fact, the best shows are the ones where you come across as authentic, genuine and helpful. The best shows are the ones where you engage with your viewers through one-to-one conversations; asking questions to them; and sharing valuable advice that helps others.

If you’re still not convinced, check out this Snapumentary by Snapchat Film Maker and Stop Motion Artist Harris Markowitz has to say.

Snapumentary by @Markowitzh from Harris Markowitz on Vimeo.

So the question is:  Are you ready for Snapchat?  If so, what are some of the reactions you may experience initially and how can you overcome these?

How to Resolve Your Initial Reactions:

Snapchat, in so many ways, causes many fears in some people so here’s a list of these and how you may resolve them:

• The fear of live streaming (“Once I publish my snap, it’s out there, I have to wait for 24 hours before it disappears! By then the whole world will know what I said!”)
  • Resolution:  Relax, It’s ephemeral content.  People can take a screen shot but trust me, they won’t remember what you said.  Unless you’ve said something so seriously wrong, it won’t be as bad as you thought. In 24 hours, it’s gone.
    

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• The fear of losing my content (“What if I want to keep my snaps and watch them later on?”)
  • Resolution: You can download any snap or your snap story in the last 24 hours to your camera roll. For example, every morning I download the entire previous day’s snaps and upload to my YouTube channel. This is one way to have a visual diary or portfolio of what you did through the day in chronological order.
    

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• The fear of not being able to view someone else’s content in the future? (“What’s the whole point of the content disappearing after 24 hours? What if I missed their snaps on something I needed to know about?” “Will they repeat this?”)
  • Resolution: Seriously? When was the last time you revisited some video content?  Do you record every conversation you have with people? No. Snapchat is like that. Consider them conversations where the other person dialogue or story triggers something in your mind on how to solve that pesky problem you’ve been having.  Want to remember it? Take a screen shot. That’s all you need to jog your memory. The rest is up to you to action.
    

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• The fear of the lack of metrics (“How do I know how long people are watching my snaps for? Why would my business invest in Snapchat if the only metrics are views and you can’t even tell how long people have watched your snaps, if at all, what if they tapped through them?” “Why can’t I see who others are following?”)
  • Resolution: This is just an excuse for you not trying out Snapchat.  The metrics will be in the actual engagement, connections, business leads, introductions to people made as a result of being introduced through Snapchat. Views are irrelevant because we don’t know if people actually watched the entire 10 seconds of your story or whether they tapped through it all.  I’m more excited to talk to a fellow Snapchatter on Skype about how we can co-operate than the number of views of my snaps.
    

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• Fear of expressing my creativity; (“Would people think me stupid if I use this filter? Am I offending anyone if I draw a moustache on my face? Do I want people to know my taste in music? Why would people be interested in watching me walk the dog while I talk about what I’ve got planned during my day?”)
  • Resolution:  You’re being too hard on yourself.  Give people the benefit of the doubt.  Start small with something that you’re comfortable with or share to only your followers (not to My Story which is public) if this is a concern.  Alternatively, why not just share your snap with me if you want to give it a go but too worried about going public?
    

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• Fear of introducing myself to a stranger; (“Why would I talk to someone who I’ve just watched make a green smoothie?” “How do I know that he’s not a serial killer or a weirdo?” “What do I have in common with them?”)
  • Resolution: Just do it. Bite the bullet. Record your message. Be nice, polite and thank them. Remember what your mum said about being nice to strangers. That. You just never know where that may take you.
    

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• Fear of boring content (“Who would watch me showing the progress of my work?” “I’ve got nothing of interest to share!”)
  • Resolution: The best Snapchatters I’ve seen don’t use filters, voice changers – they just share great helpful advice, tips and information. You are interesting. You have unique knowledge, skills, attributes, talents and experiences to share. Share them.
    

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• Fear of long rambling sentences (“How can I get my key message out in 10 seconds?”)
  • Resolution: Practice, practice, practice.  There’s a thing called #OneTakeSnaps – let me just say that I’m not good at this.  I ramble in talking as much as I do in writing. I need to fix this asap.  Luckily Snapchat is a good tool to practice saying messages clearly and succintly.
    

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• Fear of not knowing how to use the tool (“What if I press a wrong button and accidentally send them an emoji of me holding a love heart?” “What are all these buttons and what’s the best one to use for what purpose?”)
  • Resolution: Ask your nearest child how to use Snapchat OR like me, do a YouTube search on how to use the tool and go from there. Simple.
    

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So there you go.  The best way to learn how to use if you can use Snapchat is to try it out and then make your own judgment. It will not be for everyone.

However, if you have an organisation or a company where the majority of employees are in the age bracket where they are using such social tools, it might be worth your while to explore with them how they can use the tool in their work programs such as Graduate, talent or leadership development programs; or how they can act as advocates for your organisation to their peer group.  I’m still in the process of collating a list of different activities and ways to use Snapchat in your organisation and that will be published soon.

Have I convinced you enough to try it? Seriously, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain – even if deciding that it’s not for you. At least you gave it a go.

Go on, send me a pic with one of the funny filters. We need a laugh! Promise I won’t take a screenshot 😉