Once upon a app

I have been using social media for a very long time; like, I remember when you could only post pictures on Instagram. That memory is an example of one of the most fascinating parts of using social media. The evolution of the social media apps. It reminds me that I’m getting older, that times are changing, and that technology is growing. I have had an X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Snapchat account for over a decade and have seen all those apps go through weird, sometimes unnecessary changes. Yes, unnecessary! Have you ever updated an app or even a device and questioned why? Who asked for this? Yeah, me too. So I actually want to highlight some memorable now-obsolete social media features.

1. Snapchat is pretty famous for their 24-hour stories and chats being deleted immediately after you open them. Of course if there is a video, you will replay it, but did you know Snapchat used to charge for additional replays? You could get one free replay before you close the app, and then after that you could purchase 3 for $0.99, 10 for $2.99, or 20 for $4.99. Nowadays if you leave the app, you just won’t be able to replay it again.

2. Like I mentioned before originally you could only post photos and, like, comment on Instagram. In 2013, in an obvious attempt to upstage the popular 6-second video app Vine, Instagram launched 15-second video capability. I have to be honest, they kind of did upstage Vine, and I’m saying this as a self-proclaimed Vine girlie. Because shortly after Vine went defunct, so many popular creators switched to Instagram, and that switch helped launched quite a few careers. The fifteen-second videos grew into what we have now, which are reels, which actually reminds me of TikTok.

3. Revisiting Snapchat, which, in my personal opinion, has gone through plenty of interesting changes, but one in particular that no one ever talks about is the public best friends ranking. I feel like this is one of the messier social media features because you could see the top 3 people each friend basically Snapchats the most. They actually haven’t completely done away with this; it just has a more detailed ranking and is private.