Custom, NJIT-specific Snapchat stories began to appear on campus almost two weeks ago. Snapchat is a free and popular mobile app that allows users to send and receive photos and videos that self-destruct in a selected frame of time. Custom stories are geographically based and can be viewed and added to by anyone within the geographic area of the story.
A few of the specific stories that were created are NJIT 🔴 🔴, NJIT🔹♦️, NJIT Excellence, and Greek Village. Many are confused as to why there are two NJIT stories since they feature a great deal of “double-posting”, which is when a user uploads the same post to two different stories.
In regards to the multiple stories present, third-year biology major, Manogna Guduru, says, “I feel like it’s [the multiple stories] excessive and repetitive, because there are three of them. It’d be nice if there was only one permanent one.”
Although the original creators of the various geographically based stories are unrecorded, many have contributed to the story in the past week to record and share various on-campus events, classroom struggles, and common exam stress.
By keeping these stories alive, because each post expires 24 hours after it is posted, students have shown they are on-board with the millennial-era camaraderie that has come from sharing their experiences in one area.
Matteo Ferraro, a third-year Architecture and Civil Engineering double major and brother living in the Tau Delta Phi house in Greek Village, believes the Greek Village Snapchat is “nice and a great way to support Greek unity.”
Any user who posts to the geographically based stories will have their account name displayed in tandem with their post. A situation that has arisen as a result of this is that users have been adding other users, despite the fact that they may not know one another.
For many students, this turn-off has kept them from contributing to the NJIT Snapchat stories. For others, this is a reason to contribute to the Snapchat stories and keep them alive.
Users who typically add strangers are looking to network, start streaks, or simply increase the number of people who view their personal stories. A Snapchat streak is the count of the number of days in a row that two users have Snapchatted each other. A personal story can only be viewed by users who follow another user rather than users in one geographic area.
Student organizations such as Student Activities Council (SAC), The Vector Newspaper, Association of Indian Students (AIS), Student Senate, others have benefitted greatly from the free advertising that a crowd-based image and video sharing platform has provided. Users post at events they enjoy, inviting and enticing other users to visit the event.
Zohaeb Atiq, the current President of SAC, is happy to see people advertising his organization’s events. “We welcome everyone displaying our events on the new snap stories and we enjoy seeing everyone have a good time,” he said.
The feedback about the new NJIT Snapchat stories have largely been positive due their role in helping unite users all over campus who otherwise might not have interacted with one another. Only time will tell how the new Snapchat stories will evolve and how long they will be kept alive by users in the area.
