Snapchat was created in 2010 to allow users to send photos that disappear after a short period of time. It has grown to over 100 million monthly users, most of whom are young adults. Privacy has become a major concern with the rise of social media. This study aims to understand if Snapchat satisfies users' needs for privacy in the digital era. It will examine if Snapchat users feel the app provides more privacy than platforms like Facebook, if they share more sensitive information as a result, and if the perceived privacy outweighs any potential downsides for users. The implications are that privacy concerns will always exist with advancing media, and it's unclear if any platform can fully satisfy the desire for privacy in the digital world.

1. Uses & Gratifications of Snapchat: An
Answer To Privacy Needs?
By: Lauren Harrahill

2. Snapchat
Conceptualized by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy in 2010 after a friend complained
about sending pictures while drunk that the recipient was able to save and keep.
A mobile application that allows users to send pictures to friends that will disappear
within 10 seconds or less, but the files are stored for access in the Google Cloud.
Has reached over 100 million monthly users as
of August 2014, with the average user being
18 years old.

3. Privacy
Privacy has become one of the most prolific concerns in
society with the advent of the internet and social media.
- 50% of Facebook users don’t “trust” the site (Waters &
Ackerman, 2011)
- Over 70% of online adults use Social Media (Pew
Research, 2014)
- Fall 2014 a third party app leaked thousands of Snaps

4. Purpose
To understand what use or need Snapchat
satisfies for users. Is privacy a need in this
social-digital era? And if privacy is a
considerable “need,” does Snapchat adequately
satisfy the need?

5. History of Media and Privacy
Concerns over media and its invasion on the private
individual have been prolific in society long before the
social media era.
- War of Independence
- Oliver Sipple
- Social Media

6. CPM
In communication there are certain stipulations
that help us determine when, how, and how
much information we choose to disclose about
ourselves. (Petronio, 1991)

7. Literature Review
1. People believe they own and have the right to their private information
2. People control their personal information through the use of personal privacy
rules or boundaries
3. When others are told or given access to a person’s private information, they
become co-owners of that information
4. Co-owners of private information need to negotiate mutually agreeable privacy
rules about telling others
5. When co-owners of private information don’t effectively navigate and follow
mutually held privacy rules, boundary turbulence is likely the result

8. Uses & Gratification Theory
Audiences are motivated by psychological and social needs to consume media.
If these needs are not met users will search or create media to satisfy the unmet
need. (Katz, 1974)
Snapchat tries to posit itself as being extremely private because of its
disappearing content platform. (Courola, 2013)

9. RQs
RQ1: Do users use Snapchat because they believe there is more privacy than other social media
applications such as Facebook and Twitter?
RQ2: Do Snapchat users feel there is a need for mobile, social media platforms that allow for
(perceived) privacy?
RQ3: Do Snapchat users share more sensitive information (visually) on Snapchat than they do on
other social media platforms that allow for sharing of visual content?
RQ4: Do Snapchat users feel there is more benefit to using Snapchat (relational maintenance and
social capital) than there are risks (potential loss of privacy) because of perceived privacy?

10. Implications of Research
Media will always advance, and our concerns for privacy
will always be there with it.
Will platforms with perceived increased privacy be more
enticing to users?
Will any platform actually satisfy our desire for privacy in
the digital era?

11. Questions?