Once you’ve got your Snapchat account, you’ll be able to pick up snaps from Snapchat’s Live account. You don’t have to subscribe or add this Live feed, it’s there automatically. Recent feeds have been from Dublin, Al Ahmadi, Boston, New York, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, etc. You also get snaps from various events; award shows, music concerts, sport feeds and so on. These snaps are not from pros, they’re from people like you.  That’s the cool part of this, the snaps aren’t staged or repetitive, they’re live and real.

Snapchat’s Screens

There are five Snapchat screens. The default screen shows your camera. The button at the bottom controls the camera, press it once and you take a photo; hold it and your snap becomes a video.

Scroll left and you’ll see any snaps that have been sent to you. Scroll once more left and you’ve got your chat screen. See the line at the bottom? That’s where you can type your message to one of your Snapchat friends. Tap it and a keyboard appears. Once you’ve typed your message you can either attach a photo or video snap or just send the text. Note that you can’t send a chat message to someone until they have sent you a snap.

Scroll three to the right and you’re at your main Snapchat window. This is where the most recent updates are, the ones at the top of the page are new snaps you’ve received since the last time you checked. Below that, your friends are listed in alphabetical order. If they have a recent snap, it will show below their name.

Scroll once more to the right and you’re at the Find Friends screen. Press on the magnifying glass at the top and start typing. You’ll know that you’ve found someone who has a Snapchat account when there is a tiny square with a plus sign inside it to the right of the name. Press that and you’ve added that person to your Snapchat as a friend. Anyone you add has to approve your request but that’s common in most social media. You will see the word ‘pending’ just below their name once you’ve pressed the add icon.

If you search Google for ‘snapchat users’, you will find quite a few sites that list Snapshat accounts. Be advised that while Snapchat doesn’t condone nudity, some of the profiles you encounter may not be suitable for all ages or for browsing at work. That’s where the term NSFW pops up. If something is Not Suitable for Work, you can bet there is probably partial nudity in the snaps.

Generally though, Snapchat isn’t crawling with adult-themed photos or videos. For the most part Snapchat is fun, wholesome, often silly and entertaining. It’s full of pranks, bad jokes and people being people. That’s why we like it.

Snapchat Tips:

1. Add MarkKaye if you’re into Snapchat stars, both current and upcoming. CyreneQ is a very popular Snapchat artist. Check out her site for more Snapchat users: the11thsecond.com 

2. If you’re searching for users on your own, make sure you use as many forms of the name as possible. Anna might be just Anna or she could be Anna_ or Anna_Anna plus many other variations.

That’s it for Snapchat. Have fun, share your adventures with us and, if you want followers, add your Snapchat in a comment below.

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Snapchat used to have a bad reputation, back in 2011 and 2012. Many people thought it was just another way to send rude photos. We’re not sure who the app was aimed at originally but lately it’s been embraced by many companies and organizations, something that never happens with some social media. If you think Snapchat is just for teens, it’s time to take a second look.

Although the app is simple, Snapchat’s power is in its portability, spontaneity and, yes, its simplicity. Want to share a moment or a series of moments? Press a button to record a photo or short video, decide who to send it to and, presto, it’s delivered. As with other social media, users add contacts with whom they can interact. Some may be genuine friends, others may be total strangers. They could even be celebrities, Nick Jonas for one, or a company, Me Undies for instance.

Besides photos and videos, Snapchat’s other claim to fame is its customization. Snap a photo or video of anything then enhance it with your own art. Adding colorful art has created some world famous Snapchat users, not all of them from the U.S. Sure, there is a huge American user base but Snapchat has taken off worldwide. On any day of the week, you could find a whole city sharing Snapchats with you. This week it’s Amsterdam, last week it was Sydney.

When it comes to live events, Snapchat leads the way. Whether it’s Coachella , the NBA playoffs or the World Cup of Cricket, Snapchat was there. We’re not sure how that part of it works but however they do it, it’s a lot of fun to share in these events. If you like red carpets, check out the Snapchat feeds from the award shows. Your favorite stars are suddenly themselves when they’re away from the TV cameras and interviewers. You’ll see a whole other side of things, things that Instagram and Facebook never show. Snapchat is the winner here, hands down.

Snapchat is cross-platform. The versions differ somewhat but you can have fun on Android as well as iOs plus, we expect, on some others as well. Download it, install it and sign up. In our next post we’ll show you how it all works and, best of all, how to find people to follow. Stay tuned!

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!

Snapchat is one of those quirky but fun mobile apps that grow to be very popular then disappear completely. Right now Snapchat seems to be booming but we expect it to vanish sometime in the middle future. That’s a bit sad really, at least for its creators. Why? Because they turned down an offer of three billion dollars for their company. The offer was from Facebook, believe it or not. We’re not sure what Facebook was going to do with the app but they didn’t get it. Here’s what Snapchat is all about.

Basically Snapchat represents the fleeting moments of time that we use to wish we could share with others. Whether by photos or short snippets of video, Snapchat allows you to capture a moment in your timeline of life, share it, then watch it disappear forever. (Sort of. More on that later.)  Users have a list of friends and send these snippets out to them, singly or in groups.

Since there is no way to find other users,  meeting strangers is difficult. Because of this, users can feel reasonably safe when they share a moment with a friend because the person they share it with is usually just that, a real friend. They may also feel safe because the things they share disappear as soon as the recipient sees them. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

In reality, thanks to the screen capture feature built into virtually every mobile device, a savvy user can receive a Snapchat image and save it to their phone.  The snaps are also stored on Snapchat’s servers for a certain length of time, perhaps forever, just in case the justice system needs them for reference. If you do happen to give Snapchat a try, keep in mind these two ways that a photo just might come back to haunt you later.

We came to Snapchat by chance, actually. In doing research for this post, we downloaded the app and tried to sign up for an account. Strangely enough, it seems we already had an account, or at least Snapchat thought we did. Obviously someone had used one of our email addresses to sign up for Snapchat and simply left it that way. We were able to change the password, essentially hijacking the account, and now receive Snaps meant for the other person. Honestly, we don’t think this is a bad thing, specially since we can’t contact the real owner of the account. We did change the profile name but  we still get snaps every day from many ‘friends’ who aren’t really friends.

If you’re really stuck and can’t find other users, there is a Facebook group called ‘Snapchat Usernames’. You can post yours or simply look for interesting people to add to your account. Be careful though. There is no age limit on Snapchat and, from what we’ve seen and read anyway, there are many times more guys looking for girls than vice versa. That shouldn’t be news to anyone, right?

If you’ve had some interesting Snapchat experiences, we’d love to hear about them. Our opinion after using Snapchat for a month or so it this: the creators should have taken the money and run. We may be wrong but we don’t think Snapchat is going anywhere. WeChat is still our favorite way to meet new people.

Thanks for reading! Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome. Comment below or Like us on our Facebook page and comment there. Here is the link:  Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

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