“Snapchat isn’t about capturing the traditional Kodak moment. It’s about communicating with the full range of human emotion — not just what appears to be pretty or perfect.” – Evan Spiegel
https://www.snap.com/en-US/news/post/lets-chat
CEO and co-founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Spiegel), wrote this in his first blog post when describing the interface of Snapchat and how it offered an entirely new model in the growth of social media. For those of you who don’t know, Snapchat (https://www.snapchat.com) is a communication app that allows users to send pictures, videos, or texts that will disappear after a set amount of time. The app can be used to talk to an individual, or share with all your friends in another segment of the app called “stories.” In this section, you can post any picture or video for all your friends to see for 24 hours. The post will automatically disappear after these 24 hours and your friends and users will not be able to see it again. Snapchat has also introduced memories that allows users to save the experiences they capture in the app then distribute the content on the app later. The app has grown to be tremendously popular in Gen Z and Millenials: 26% of surveyed people between the ages of 12 and 24 said they use Snapchat the most, only second to Facebook (Bernazzani). To show how Snapchat has developed, here is a timeline of their evolution
Your Privacy With Snap Maps
The real reason I’m writing this narrative is to inform my readers about Snapchat Maps, or “Snap Maps” if you’re hip. Snap Maps was created to encourage people to meet with their friends in real-time, rather than watching each other’s lives on a screen (Constine). “We’ve built a whole new way to explore the world! See what’s happening, find your friends, and get inspired to go on an adventure!,” written by Snap Inc. on their blog. While this seems like a great idea and does have it’s benefits, this feature has also added another layer to stalking. When users first sign into this section of the app, they are immediately prompted with the question of whether or not they would like to be on ghost mode. Ghost mode hides your location from other users, however, you can still see your friend’s locations who have not enabled ghost mode.
While a useful feature, there is and has been a lot of concern regarding Snap Maps primarily created by child safety groups. The uneasiness of Snap Maps that comes from child safety groups is well-advised as 90% of Snapchat’s users fall within the ages of 13 and 24 (Aslam). One child support group called Childnet International (https://www.childnet.com) wrote “Given how specific this new feature is on Snapchat – giving your location to a precise pinpoint on a map – we would encourage users not to share their location, especially with people they don’t know in person,” in one of their blog posts. The caution that these groups are saying adolescents and young adults need to take should not be taken easily. Perpetrators of stalking and tracking continue to identify and adopt new computer software and hardware tools that further allow them to stalk and harass their victims (Southworth and Tucker). Although not as Snap Maps was intended for, there have been several cases in which people have been stalked on Snap Maps. Some cases even include kidnapping or death.
Examples of Privacy Loss
In France, a particular scenario involving Snap Maps created a big wave regarding safety. This scenario involved a man, a woman, a knife, and another guy. It was Halloween night when a man did not know where his girlfriend was. He left many calls on her voicemail before turning to Snap Maps to see where she was. The man, armed with a knife, found her location, then hurried over to where she was. There, he found her sitting in a car with another man. There, the boyfriend argued with the other man for a while, then stabbed him in the thigh. The boyfriend was arrested and upon his arrest, admitted to being very jealous. The man was also accused of being violent with his girlfriend but he claims “it is her that wants it,” (Smith).
Personally, one of my friends has been in a similar, yet non-violent scenario where Snap Maps was used to track her location. She and her ex-boyfriend separated about two years ago. However, recently, he tracked her location at school, trying to meet up with her. She was at a party when her ex-boyfriend randomly appeared. He said he was on campus to visit a friend and used Snap Maps to find her location. Appalled, she told him that he needs to leave her alone and that it is not okay to stalk her on Snap Maps. Fortunately, her ex-boyfriend listened and promptly left the party she was at but, this is another unideal situation that could have been avoided if ghost mode was enabled.
These are just two cases in which Snap Maps has been used to stalk another user. Although most are not violent, this case proves that danger lives on Snap Maps. There have not been enough news stories to create a trend but there are blogs out there that talk about people’s experiences being stalked or stalking. After researching, I believe most cases do not make the news. This is because although users are friends with people on Snapchat that they have not actually met, the people most likely to stalk that user is their actual friends. Nobody is going to report their friends to law enforcement which is why there are not many news stories regarding Snap Maps and stalking.
https://www.hercampus.com/school/u-iowa/how-snapmaps-ruined-my-life
This blog offers the reverse point as the previous story. Here, a woman is talking about her experiences stalking with Snap Maps and how it destroyed her emotionally. Only being one year out of high school, I have had my fair share of this. Very often, a fringe friend would go on Snap Maps and see a group of there friends all together. This would immediately upset them and often ruined the rest of their night and in some cases, even week.
Wrapping Up
With all of that being said, there are benefits to be had with Snap Maps, but I warn you to be cautious. Most of the pros on Snap Maps are still available when you are on ghost mode. However, a lot of people use Snap Maps to show their friends where they are and potentially even make their friends jealous. The problem with this is that most users have friends on Snapchat that they don’t personally know. This is where a lot of the concern with Snap Maps comes into play. There is a way to change the settings on Snap Maps where you can select which users can and cannot see your location. If you would like to share your location with friends, I highly recommend you take the five minutes to change your settings and select only your closest friends to be able to see your location. This five minutes could prevent a scenario in which you are stalked and could even save your life.
How to turn on ghost mode:
https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/news/ghost-mode-timer
References:
Bernazzani, Sophia. “A Brief History of Snapchat.” HubSpot Blog, 10 Feb. 2017, 8:00 am, blog.hubspot.com/marketing/history-of-snapchat.
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/history-of-snapchat.
Solon, Olivia. “Snapchat’s New Map Feature Raises Fears of Stalking and Bullying.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 June 2017, www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/23/snapchat-maps-privacy-safety-concerns.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/23/snapchat-maps-privacy-safety-concerns.
Smith, Ms. “Guy Tracks down Girlfriend via Snapchat Snap Map, Stabs Man She’s With.” CSO Online, CSO, 7 Nov. 2017, www.csoonline.com/article/3236486/guy-tracks-down-girlfriend-via-snapchat-snap-map-stabs-man-shes-with.html.
Southworth, Cindy, and Sarah Tucker. “Technology, Stalking and Domestic Violence Victims.” Mississippi Law Journal , vol. 76, no. 3, Winter 2007, p. 667-676. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/Ph=hein.journals/mislj76&i=695.
https://heinonline.org/HOL/Ph=hein.journals/mislj76&i=695.
Constine, Josh. “Snapchat Launches Location-Sharing Feature Snap Map.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 21 June 2017, techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/snap-map/.
http://techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/snap-map/.
Aslam, Salman. “Snapchat by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts.” Omnicore, Omnicore Agency, 9 Sept. 2019, www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/.
http://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/.
Cairns, Gareth. “Snap Map – The Benefits and the Concerns.” ZC Social Media, 6 July 2017, zcsocialmedia.com/snap-map-benefits-concerns/.
http://zcsocialmedia.com/snap-map-benefits-concerns/.
“The Fastest Way to Share a Moment!” Snapchat, www.snapchat.com/.
Luong, Amy. “How Snapmaps Ruined My Life.” Her Campus at Iowa, 7 Nov. 2017, www.hercampus.com/school/u-iowa/how-snapmaps-ruined-my-life.
https://www.hercampus.com/school/u-iowa/how-snapmaps-ruined-my-life
