Aw, Snap! 7 Quick Snapchat Tips

Jenn and I have been on Snapchat for months, and now that the technology is old hat to us, we decided to go ahead and get FBG accounts set up in additional to our personal ones. Now, I would not say that Snapchat is one of those new apps that is intuitive by any stretch. It takes some figuring out, but it’s definitely a fun way to share with friends and family (and now readers) the things that go on in your day-to-day — be it a cool sunset or a video of what you’re making for dinner. For moms with young kids in particular, it’s the best way I’ve found to send short videos of my kids to people without having to email them a giant file to download or shoot them a super-grainy text. But before you go downloading Snapchat if you’re a newbie, a few words of advice…

7 Quick Snapchat Tips

1. Learning curve. Even if you consider yourself fairly tech-savvy, you will feel like you’re 90 years old using it for the first time. It’s not always intuitive so you just need to play around with it for awhile to get the hang of it. Jenn and I were thoroughly confused the entire first night we were using it, and a friend who just recently joined sent me a snap saying, “I’ve never felt so stupid in my life.” Just know that’s totally normal, and it will pass.

2. The basics. You can take a picture or video of something, add a caption if you please and send it to someone. That picture or video will be deleted forevermore — UNLESS that person takes a screenshot when it comes through (and you’ll be notified if they do). The recipient also has the ability to replay something one time each day.

3. Tell your story. When you post your snap to My Stories, it lets your pic/video be viewed an unlimited number of times for 24 hours. This is how I do most of my snapping so that close family and friends have the ability to watch again if they blinked the first time or had the sound turned down during a video.

4. Save it for yourself. You will find yourself catching hilarious snippets of your kids and thinking, “But I don’t want that video to disappear!” Don’t worry: You can download a snap before you send it by pushing the little down arrow on the bottom of the screen. And if you forget, you can download it after you’ve posted it to My Stories as well by clicking on the three dots next to My Stories and hitting the down arrow. Just make sure to do so before the 24 hours is up when it disappears for good. I’m in such a habit of downloading a snap before posting that I don’t even think about it.

5. Delete! Post something by accident? You can also delete a post by clicking on that particular snap under My Stories and hitting the good old trash can.

6. Still learning. Jenn and I only super recently figured out that your “Snapcode” is your square yellow ghost image. You can take a screen shot of someone’s icon, like when they post it to Instagram, and then in Snapchat “Add by Snapcode” and pull up that image to add someone you want to follow. Genius. And stupid because I didn’t figure that out sooner.

7. Your kids will love the filters. Selfie mode has lots of ever-changing goofy filters. My kids have a blast playing with them. Ok, and I kind of do too.

To find Jenn, search “fitbottomedgirl” and to find me, search “fitbottomedmama.” Eats is also represented by Kristen, so of course, search fitbottomedeats, too!

Are you on Snapchat? Did you feel like a fool at first? I just kept saying, “I don’t get it. I just, don’t get it.” —Erin