I saw an article this morning of the very first job resume created on Snapchat. Granted, it was a gentleman applying for a job with Snapchat themselves so I would think it was deemed appropriate. To the rest of the business world, I don’t know that many employers will want to see resumes come across via Snapchat however it does pose some interesting questions about how businesses can use Snapchat or if they even should?

Since Snapchat was first designed with the intention of its founders to be able to express emotions more effectively than the emoticons via text messaging but without the concern that their silly expressions would be captured forever online or via other social media sites…it now has users sending over 760 million ‘disappearing’ photos daily and over 1 billion user stories being viewed daily.

With almost 50% of Snapchat’s users being between the ages of 12-24, as a business, you may want to carefully consider if you want to set forth the effort to gain a strong following by using the story feature in order to promote your products or services. However I do have to give credit to Snapchat as an organization recognizing the dwindling effects that technology and social media has on our younger generations being exposed to important news stories by adding their “Discover” feature on January 27, 2015. These story sources range from CNN, National Geographic, and ESPN to Cosmopolitan, Food Network, and People. At least they may have the option to seek out some more knowledge while browsing their social media app. However, I have to admit, when I asked my daughter who is a Sophomore in Highschool about this feature; over a month after it first launched, she didn’t even know what I was talking about. Maybe Snapchat should put them on their contact page versus having to navigate to them. They may be even more likely to view some of them. From a humanitarian standpoint I wish Snapchat would utilize their influence to power more good with this age demographic. Such as quick tips to build more self-esteem, more confidence, or even PSA on anti-bullying. Granted these may be selfish topics from myself since my mission and passion is to create strong communities…

Anyway, Snapchat has however decided to attempt to tap into more profit with direct advertising for companies. Just before the launch of their Discover feature, there was talk that Snapchat was only going after the largest companies for the largest dollars for this option to advertise on their app…$750,000.00 per day commitments had made headlines in mid January. Without the ability to even report to businesses who saw their ad or took any sort of action from it; companies criticized that they would need to negotiate that pricing down. Again, since my daughter didn’t even know a business could advertise, despite being a prime target age user of the app; I would have to warn McDonald’s that they may be paying too much. Hiring someone dedicated to just “snapchatting” and creating stories and building a following would be easier and less costly. Time will tell if they will continue to evolve or dwindle.