Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed by Stanford University students.Using the app, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as “Snaps”. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps (as of November 2013, the range is from 1 to 10 seconds), after which they will be hidden from the recipient’s device and deleted from the Snapchat server.
Snapchat was started by Spiegel and Bobby Murphy as a project for one of Spiegel’s classes at Stanford University where he was a product design major. When Spiegel floated the idea in April 2011 in front of the product design class for his final project, classmates balked at the idea of the impermanent photos. Snapchat was launched in September 2011 in Spiegel’s father’s living room.
Early on, the Snapchat team focused on usability and technical aspects rather than branding efforts. The app’s mascot is called “Ghostface Chillah”, a name derived from Ghostface Killah of the hip hop group Wu Tang Clan.
In May 2012, 25 images were being sent per second and, as of November 28, 2012, users had shared over one billion photos on the Snapchat iOS app, with 20 million photos being shared per day. In November 2012, Spiegel cited problems with scaling, as the userbase increased, as the reason for why Snapchat was experiencing difficulties with delivering images in real time.
As the Snapchat team set to work on its Android app, team members discovered that images had letterboxing issues for picture previews. The team spent six weeks rebuilding the camera function and Snapchat was eventually released on Android on November 29, 2012.
Snapchat raised US$475,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lighspeed Ventures.In June 2013, Snapchat raised US$60 million in a funding round led by venture-capital firm Institutional Venture Partners. The firm also appointed a new high-profile board member Michael Lynton of Sony’s American division.
Also in June 2013, Snapchat introduced Snapkidz for users under 13 years of age. Snapkidz is part of the original Snapchat app and is activated when the user provides a date of birth to verify his/her age. Snapkidz allows children to take snaps and draw on them, but they cannot send snaps to other users and can only save snaps locally on the device being used.
In June 2013, Snapchat version 5.0, dubbed “Banquo”, was released for iOS. The updated version introduced several speed and design enhancements, including swipe navigation, double-tap to reply, an improved friend finder, and in-app profiles.The same changes were then carried over to Android devices in July 2013.
The company revealed in a blog post on October 14, 2013 that it complies with the requirements of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by handing over images not yet seen by its users to American law enforcement agencies. Snapchat director of operations Micah Schaffer explained: “Since May 2013, about a dozen of the search warrants we’ve received have resulted in us producing unopened snaps to law enforcement.”
Social networks seen by students 
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