"Snapchat is more personal": An exploratory study on Snapchat behaviors and young adult interpersonal relationships

Snapchat is a social media platform that allows users to send images, videos, and text with a specified amount of time for the receiver(s) to view the content before it becomes permanently inaccessible to the receiver. Using focus group methodology and in-depth interviews, the current study sought to understand young adult (18e23 years old; n 1⁄4 34) perceptions of how Snapchat behaviors influenced their interpersonal relationships (family, friends, and romantic). Young adults indicated that Snapchat served as a double-edged swordda communication modality that could lead to relational challenges, but also facilitate more congruent communication within young adult interpersonal relationships. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Technology is now a regular part of contemporary young adult (18e25 years old) life (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, & Howard, 2013; Vaterlaus, Jones, Patten, & Cook, 2015). With technological convergence (i.e. accessibility of multiple media on one device; Brown & Bobkowski, 2011) young adults can access both entertainment media (e.g., television, music) and social media (e.g., social networking, text messaging) on a single device. Among adults, smartphone ownership is highest among young adults (85% of 18e29 year olds; Smith, 2015). Perrin (2015) reported that 90% of young adults (ages 18e29) use social media. Facebook remains the most popular social networking platform, but several new social media apps (i.e., applications) have begun to gain popularity among young adults (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest; Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart, & Madden, 2015). Considering the high frequency of social media use, Subrahmanyam and Greenfield (2008) have advocated for more research on how these technologies influence interpersonal relationships. The current exploratory study aterlaus), Kathryn_barnett@ (C. Roche), youngja2@unk. was designed to understand the perceived role of Snapchat (see www.snapchat.com) in young adults' interpersonal relationships (i.e. family, social, and romantic). 1. Theoretical framework Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&G) purports that media and technology users are active, self-aware, and goal directed (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973). Technology consumers link their need gratification with specific technology options, which puts different technology sources in competition with one another to satisfy a consumer's needs. Since the emergence of U&G nearly 80 years ago, there have been significant advances in media and technology, which have resulted in many more media and technology options for consumers (Ruggiero, 2000). Writing about the internet and U&G in 2000, Roggiero forecasted: “If the internet is a technology that many predict will be genuinely transformative, it will lead to profound changes in media users' personal and social habits and roles” (p.28). Advances in accessibility to the internet and the development of social media, including Snapchat, provide support for the validity of this prediction. Despite the advances in technology, the needs users seek to gratify are likely more consistent over time. Supporting this point Katz, Gurevitch, and Haas J.M. Vaterlaus et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 594e601 595