A ‘snap’ is a video or photo that disappears after it’s been viewed. A user can add special effects to a snap including a ‘lens’ which changes how someone looks. People can send a snap to other users or add it to a ‘story’ (a set of pictures or videos that disappear after 24 hours). Snapchat rewards users who chat daily with a ‘snapstreak’ score. People can save private snaps into ‘My Eyes Only’ which is password-protected.
Users can pay for SnapTokens and Snapchat+ to do things like buy virtual gaming items or see how highly they rank as a friend when compared to others (‘Friend Solar System’). They can also use AI to create a fake image to send as a snap to others.
Users can text chat with ‘My AI’, which is a personal chatbot (a computer program that can mimic human conversation). For example, a user could ask My AI ‘What is your favourite colour’ or ‘What’s a great gift for a 13 year old?’. The answers may seem trustworthy but can include misinformation and adverts. A user can rename their ‘My AI’, change its avatar (profile picture) and pay to change its conversation style e.g. to talk like a pirate. The information a user shares with My AI is stored and used to provide a personalised response and to improve the chatbot.
Snapchat has parental controls called ‘Family Centre’. If their child agrees, parents can see who their child is friends with and who they have sent messages to in the last week. They can filter some sensitive content such as sexual activity in Stories and Spotlight (not chats, snaps or search). Safety settings include the ability to control who can send you snaps, view your stories or location and report content or another user.
