Sharing Your Snapchat Content - How To Use Snapchat (& Start Creating Content)

SHARING A SNAP

Now that we’ve got a snap ready to go, let’s take a look at your options for sharing it.  You’ve basically got three choices for distributing content to others within the app:

1. Add the snap to your story.
2. Select one or more individual Snapchat friends to send the snap to as a direct message.
3. Both 

“Alright, sweet.  How do I do each one?”

1. Adding a snap to your story.  To only add this snap to your story, tap the square with a plus in it.  Bam!  You’re all done; this snap will now be viewable as part of your Snapchat story to anyone who follows you for the next 24 hours.
2. Sending as a direct message.  Tap the right arrow button and you’ll be presented with a list of your Snapchat friends, tap the box next to the name of everyone you would like the snap to be delivered to, then tap the right arrow again to send.
3. Both.  To send the snap as a direct message but also add it to your story, follow the same process outlined in step two.  Before sending the snap, however, make sure that ‘my story’ is selected as a recipient of your snap.  Now your message will be delivered to the specified users, but it has also been added to your story.  Check out the GIF below for a step by step example!

In this GIF I send a finished snap to my story and to two friends.  You’ll notice one friend I select has a star next to their name rather than a box, that’s because Snapchat automatically populates the users you snap with the most as ‘Best Friends’ and puts them near the top of your friends list.

Notes on sharing snaps:

• Anything added to your story will be viewable in the order added (so your story snaps will display to users in the order you took them, oldest to newest).  Use this knowledge to help string together multiple snaps into a story or series that’s interesting to your audience.
•  While messages sent directly self-destruct after 1 to 10 seconds, snaps added to your story can be viewed as many times as your followers desire within the 24 hour window.
• Snaps sent both to individual users as well as those added to your story can be screenshot.  Screenshotted?  I’m not sure what the proper term is, but you get the idea:  Users are able to save stills from snaps they view.  You will receive an alert if a user takes a screenshot of one of your snaps.
• You can see how many people have viewed your story by heading to the Stories Screen (swipe left from the home/camera screen), then tapping the 3 vertical dots to the right of ‘My Story’.  Check below to see this visually:

Finally, for your reference, here’s a cheat sheet for the sharing options on the edit screen after you’ve captured any snap: