Snapchat Interactions Have Increased 'Social Enjoyment,' Positive Mood Compared To Facebook, Twitter, Study

Communication experience on Snapchat is more fun and positive as compared to Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, a new study claims.

According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Snapchat interactions are associated with an increase in "social enjoyment and positive mood" when compared to other social media giants including Facebook and Twitter, reported Tech Insider.

Mobile application, Snapchat, is one of the most popular "ephemeral social media" platforms. Messages sent using the application appear only for 10 seconds before disappearing.

Lead author Joseph Bayer said many people view Snapchat as the 'sexting app,' but it's not true.

He said instead it was found that Snapchat is typically being used to communicate spontaneously with close friends in a new and often more enjoyable way.

"At the same time, Snapchat interactions were perceived as having less social support than other social media. These findings open up important questions about the benefits and costs of different social media," said Bayer.

For the purpose of the study, the researchers used "experience sampling" on 154 college students. They measured how the college students felt after using a social media platform  by texting them six times a day for two weeks, asking questions such as how pleasant or unpleasant was their most recent interaction and how close they are to that person, reported the Times of India.

The study found that next to face-to-face interactions, the most "rewarding" communication happened through Snapchat.

The findings indicate that one of the main reasons that users have a better experience on Snapchat is because of fewer "self-presentational" concerns meaning that users are less concerned with presenting the perfect image on Snapchat.

Bayer pointed out that people use Facebook to post well-crafted messages and staged photos for births, graduations and birthdays, whereas Snapchat users are simply capturing small moments of life.

In addition, participants reported focusing more attention on Snapchat messages compared to other platforms.

The study findings appear in the journal Information, Communication & Society.