No matter what you think of your tween/teenager/millennial spending hours glued to Snapchat, you can’t argue with the rapid phenomena of this catchy social media tool. Snapchat is all about the visuals and the speed to sharing them with others. Users share photos and videos with friends, family, and colleagues at the touch of a button. Arguably, this app has revolutionized how we are communicate with others…and truly epitomizes “a picture says a 1000 words.” So, you might be thinking, how does Snapchat have any benefit to life outside of our phones and in the workforce? Here are two ways Snapchat can teach us about communicating to our employees.
First, Snapchat is all about the visual (no words necessary)- Snapchat is meant to move you. To make you laugh, sing, dance, maybe even cry. It’s all about the story-telling. As humans, and as communicators, many times we find ourselves trying to explain something over text, email, etc. when we know by sending a picture, video, illustration, etc. it would be so much easier to convey our message. That’s where Snapchat can teach us a thing or two. With Snapchat, at the click of a button we can send a video to anyone on our friends list. When it’s opened, the message is clearly conveyed in under 30 seconds. As communicators, we can learn from Snapchat by considering it an image, video, illustration or other visual can help us tell a story that is moving, clear and right to the point.
Second, Snapchat is all about speed and immediacy– Communicating effectively and consistently to customers, employees, and shareholders is undeniably important. But, in today’s competitive, fast-paced working environment, we need to do more than that—we need to be faster. What use to be okay to tell in 100 words, we now have to say in 5 words. Our constituents want their information, their reply, their answers… faster. Taking a page from Snapchat’s book—using visuals that one views in under 30 seconds– might provide communicators with one way to incorporate speed into communicating. This encourages us as communicators to construct much shorter messages and let the picture tell the story. Snapchat is teaching teenagers, and young adults how to be more concise when constructing a message while still effectively getting their point across. Hmmmm…
Whether you are a millennial like me or have many years of experience in the workforce, Snapchat can teach us a thing or two about using visuals to communicate our stories and messages while telling them in a creative efficient way.
Author: Jessica Turner