AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
will describe elementary characteristics of new type of
communication defined mostly by Snapchat.
1.
Video length: For Instagram it's 15 seconds, Snapchat has
10-second videos or photos that only last for 24 hours. We
talk about ephemeral communication that is not periodical;
they do not have a public archive.
2.
Individual photos or videos can create a longer story.
3.
Another feature is filming or shooting with a mobile device
in height, which denies all shooting rules.
4.
In essence, these contents are primitive and volatile as
normal communication.
5.
Visualization of data and information. These are shared by
either static or dynamic images. This visualization is typical
for Z generation but also for all online journalism. The
contents are authentic and brief, using humor and often
game elements.
6.
Users focus on shared content more than on any other
platform. It is certainly a positive change for newsrooms.
Each type of content lasts only 10-15 seconds and it is
followed by another, or it is cyclically repeated, users pay
much more attention to watched videos or photos with text.
This is a great deal of scarcity nowadays, because we live in
a time when young people, surrounded by information
overpressure, do not pay full attention to media content. In
addition, Snapchat repeat one post cyclically, while
Instagram cuts post after 15 seconds.
7.
Contribution to citizen journalism. Snapchat has popularized
aggregation of user’s created content into one channel using
geolocation tags. It has created a completely new kind of
citizen journalism that can bring interesting, atypical
information from various events, protests, sport matches and
many others. We are talking about the next level of
automation of journalism. The first social network that
introduced such a procedure was Periscope.
8.
Return to old media. First, there is a comeback of print
magazines, because users mostly scroll from left to right or
they simply tapping on that part of the screen of the device.
In addition, there can also be a return to the traditional 50's
when the viewer’s only watched programs running behind
each other Similarly, Discover or Stories works on
Snapchat, Instagram, where users just follow posts in a row
without the ability to manipulate this content. They can just
switch channel.
9.
The purpose of publishing with this platform is not just to
promote and refer to existing content, such as articles on the
web, but it also has its place in the context of strengthening
the media brand.
10.
The target group of young people is undisputed advantage
and main reason of using Snapchat Discover or Instagram
Stories as a media channel. The young people who have
found their place at Snapchat or Instagram have developed a
certain language of communication or slang and media
producers should understand it and use it in communication
of news. Of course, young people will stay on Snapchat
because there is a small probability of meeting their parents
there who primarily use Facebook, less Instagram. The
media have a unique chance to capture a target group of
teenagers to create a future audience.
11.
The easy form of information spread, which is closely
related to the use of infotainment elements, is another
advantage of using Snapchat as a communication channel.
Young people can receive serious mediated in an
inconvenient and fun way.
12.
Since Snapchat content remains visible for 24 hours, users
are used to share content of very low standards. We find a
similar situation in content shared by media channels,
although there is rather a larger tendency to tabloidization of
information. The problem is also the preparation of
Snapchat content itself. Mostly we meet professionally
prepared animations or videos that require at least two
editors (graphic, journalist). Therefore, there is a need to
employ new content-editors for preparing ephemeral
content, which also means an intervention in the publisher
budget that not every media house can afford.
13.
The existence of Snapchat has sparked a number of issues
related to privacy and trustworthiness. Is the content of
thousands daily users really deleted? In addition, there is
also a problem affecting personality rights. If a medium or a
private person shares Snap or Story with untrue information
about another person, group of people or company and this
information will disappear, how could a violation of the law
be made when the court does not require screen shot videos
or photos to be real evidence?
4 Conclusion
What we should learn from spreading news by Discover or
“Stories?” First of all, the most important fragment is the
platform. We are talking about mobile devices which are
portable and generation Z use them constantly same as social
networks (Instagram, Snapchat) which have become a virtual
community where they can talk freely and in their own virtual
visualized language. It is generally known that nowadays it is
very difficult to concentrate for many children and teenagers.
Stories offer very useful way of spreading news and telling
stories. They are brief and short and users have to remember
them because they will disappear forever. The way of telling
information is very flexible, funny and comprehensible for
generation of digital natives. Media often use gifs, memes and
videos. We can say that they visualize communication which is
very important for children and teenagers who do not read so
much as generation before. We would like to recommend
ephemeral images to educational institutions. They could use
them as an educational tool which is inconspicuous, interactive
and much more effective than traditional way of teaching.
Literature:
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[2017-12-6].
Available
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discover-one-year-later-how-23-media-companies-are-building-
stories-evan-
2281851˃
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6].
Available
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generacia-z-su-maximalne-digitalni-
ludia˃
4. NEWBERRY, CH.: Top Snapchat Demographics That
Matters To Social Media Marketers. [online]. [2017-11-6].
Available
: ˂https://blog.hootsuite.com/snapchat-demographics/˃
5. VAYNERCHUK, G.: The Snap Generation. A Guide to
Snapchat´s History. [online]. [2017-12-6].
Available:
˂http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-vaynerchuk/the-snap-
generation-a-
gui_b_9103216.html˃
Primary Paper Section: A
Secondary Paper Section: AJ
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