Snapchat and the Erasable Future of Social Media

The world’s hottest photo-sharing app, which features self-destructing pictures, isn’t just a better way to flirt. It’s about taking control of your digital self
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Photographs by Charlie Engman for Bloomberg Businessweek

In the fall of 2012, Sally Ike, a senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., heard from a friend about a hilarious new app you could download on your smartphone. Snapchat was free, her friend explained, and allowed you to share photos. And like a lot of photo apps, it was simple: just shoot and send. The hook was that when your friend opened the message, the photo self-destructed within 10 seconds.