HIDE & SEEK SNAPCHAT

CATELYN EVANS 2017

SNAPCHAT 'FIND YOUR FRIENDS' , 2017

Welcome back, I'm glad I'm meeting you here once again. Continuing off the idea of networking and how it is a vital part of our social makings. This week we will be discussing the ideas of how 'mapping' on social media influences our opinion towards an apps and effects on our usage level.  

With comparison to such maps like ' topographic' maps and how they show surfaces or points of landscape such as mountain ranges, Social media mapping  ' mapping' or the term map is "a representation, usually on a flat surface, as of the features of an area of the earth or a portion of the heavens, showing them in their respective forms, sizes, and relationships according to some convention of representation". This can be depicted as ,as all maps sharing similar themes, but the differences in maps is obviously recognised, such as the content of maps we are looking for comes into account. With this said most social platforms share similar genre and themes, however, the formatting and what you gain out of the app varies. As mentioned by Wood 'Every map is a purposeful selection from everything that is known, bent to the mapmaker's ends. Every map serves a purpose, Every map advances an interest'( pg. 4).

Social network also illustrates these points as there are high and low levels of popularity and how they express individual content and in comparison to other social media platforms. Social media platforms, such as Snapchat express different forms and structure throughout the flow of the app. The 'mapping' outlay of Snapchat is easily navigated and understood to individuals users as the layout of mapping is a regularly updated platform.

Through the use of updates, Snapchat and other social apps constantly changed, such as a new 'new look' . This is demonstrated within the maps, as it showing a different angle as such or overview. Discovering new content and features, which can notice on certain themes or new additions added to the outlay of the map, which was not seen before.

Recent updates of the app, include exploratory a feature enabling the user the ability to find people near them, called ' Find my friends'. This purpose of this update allows the user to locate your exact pin point location.

In addition, a further option has been installed allowing users the option of clicking a highly populated area on the digital which allows them to watch anyone's videos or view photos published within that area regardless of online friendships or privacy settings.

This sparks the question of how much privacy we have as a user of the app? Knowing that your private content is within the mapping of Snapchat questions the possibility for privacy, which raises an alarming and unsafe agenda, not knowing for sure if all content we post on the 'private' app is private from other users.

References

Denis Wood, Ward l. Kaiser & Bob Abramms, 2001, Seeing Through Maps, (pg. 4)

TJ Mc Cue, 2014, Your Social Media Conversation Is Like A Topographic Map