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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion

COLUMN: Snapchat and globalization

The popular app promotes interest in other lives and cultures

Everyone snapchats. I snapchat. You snapchat. He/she/it snapchats. There is no denying this popular app is a fun way to keep in touch with friends, entertain ourselves and send goofy selfies on the way to class.

Since its launch in 2011, Snapchat users have not only been able to send 10-second photos to their buddies, but they can also use Snapcash, Discover and Campus Stories.

With Campus Story, I can see a photo or video a fellow Hoosier uploaded of Showalter Fountain. It makes a connection between this person I don’t know and myself. I feel like I’m part of the Hoosier experience, even if it’s something silly like pictures of food or a Starbucks Frappuccino. It creates a sense of belonging – a belonging to this campus and what it means to be a Hoosier.

While hoosier.snaps is a slightly less classy version of the IU Campus Story, it’s still fun to see what my fellow Hoosiers are doing everyday — whether it be rolling a fat blunt, playing with adorable puppies or slowly losing their minds in Wells Library. Nevertheless, a connection is formed. And I think that is so important.

But this connection and live feed goes beyond the borders of IU campus. ?With Snapchat’s “Our Story,” Snapchat users can watch live feeds of events happening from around the world.

In its own “Live” section beneath a user’s recent updates, you can experience stories posted by fellow Snapchatters who are at the same event or location.

The first “Our Story” was launched in June 2014 at the Electric Daisy Carnival. ?Carnival-goers could share their photos and videos with the entire Snapchat community through this live feed.

Not only are the people at the event sharing their personal experiences, but those of us missing out can feel like we’re actually there ?with them.

Sunday was May 17, or Norwegian Constitution Day. A live feed of the celebration was on Snapchat for everyone to see.

I admit I know almost nothing about Norway, or its culture for that matter, but I got to see what these people were all about on their National Day, and it seemed pretty awesome to me.

Not only did I suddenly wish to move to Norway, but it also got me to research more about the holiday and the country itself on my own. How exciting is it to experience and even feel a part of something that is happening oceans away?

Another recent live feed was from Abu Dhabi, the capital and second most populous city of the United Arab Emirates. I’d wager that most Americans know little about it if they have even heard of it.

But with Snapchat’s live feed of Abu Dhabi, people around the world get an ?intimate look into the city and its people. Not only is it really awesome to see, but it also opens up the world to different people who speak different languages and practice different cultures.

After watching these Snapchats, I wanted to learn more about Norway and Abu Dhabi, both of which were much more exciting to watch than the cultural appropriation that is Coachella or Lollapalooza back in the United States. I’ve seen enough flower crowns in my lifetime, thank you.

This innovative feature on Snapchat has the power to do great things. We can share our own experiences with the world, and others can share theirs right back with us. We can only wait to see where we’ll go from here.

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