School Snapchat stories: Hot or not?

If you’re a regular Snapchat user, you may have added a “community” to your profile. These are typically linked to your high school or college and your graduation year. By adding this to your profile, you gain access to special Snapchat stories for that school, which can provide insight into various aspects of student life.

They tend to cover school events and student life, but in our case, they are a way of showcasing some of the student businesses that are operating on campus. While these stories can be a fun and engaging way of staying connected to your school community, they also reveal trends in the type of content that is posted more frequently.

One of the biggest businesses that is featured on the Snapchat story is the bedazzled tumblers. All of the advertisements for these tumblers are taken right next to the Michael B. Alexander Science and Technology Center (STC), and they become more frequent in the warmer months, which is likely because students want a sparkly, reusable cup for their iced drinks.

The second business that occasionally posts on the Snapchat story is a custom t-shirt business, which can be recognized by the flashing lights that are featured in their advertisements.

These are less common than the posts from the tumbler business, maybe posting once a month or every other month. Although it’s great to see student entrepreneurs using the Snapchat story as a platform for advertising their goods, it’s becoming evident that these kinds of posts are starting to control the content of the story.

In reality, on-campus companies have become some of the only things that are posted. Other than these advertisements, we see people using the Snapchat story as a venting space. From frustration with laundry room etiquette to discussion of sicknesses circulating campus, negativity has a way of creeping into the feed.

This was apparent during the norovirus outbreak right before spring break when there was a snap from someone who had the virus. While it is understandable that students use Snapchat to show concern, it has made the content in general appear somewhat redundant.

While I recognize there may not always be a lot of content to post, I do think we would benefit from mixing up the type of content that is posted to the Snapchat story.

Instead of focusing so heavily on student businesses or complaints, we should work harder to highlight the many elements that make Lasell such a close-knit and community-driven campus.

There are a lot of events that happen throughout the semester, from club events to campus-wide events, and Snapchat would be an ideal platform to raise awareness of these events.

If more students could be encouraged to post about upcoming events, rather than advertising companies, then it would be possible to create more participation and engagement.

By shifting the focus of the Snapchat story to developing community engagement, we could transform it into a more positive and informative space that benefits the entire student body.