Learn English meaning of Snapchat

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• impermanence
• vanish
• device
• exclusive

• app
• following
• the appeal
• selling point

• supposedly
• demographic

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Websites and apps come and go. You need the right features and good timing to build a following, and even then, the appeal might not last. Think about Friendster or MySpace. The selling point of these websites was important to a large demographic for a while. But now? Nobody talks about them anymore.

The app Snapchat is having success with the idea of impermanence. After something is sent with Snapchat, it vanishes again in less than a minute. If you want to send someone a photo or a video on Snapchat, whatever you say or do will only last for a moment. It’s a fun app for people who like to keep moving.

Julie and Gary are talking about Snapchat and why it’s so popular. Read on in today’s English lesson about a new way to use our phones to say hello.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Julie

Gary

Julie:  So, what’s the appeal of Snapchat?

Gary:  Good question. I guess I would say that it actually has a really big following in a very specific demographic.

Julie:  Right. Isn’t it teenagers and young adults?

Gary:  So, teenagers don’t want to have their conversations followed, and they want to be able to talk with their friends as quickly as possible. And they don’t want their conversations to last forever.

Julie:  So, they like the impermanence of Snapchat.

Gary:  Exactly.

Julie:  The fact that they can post something, and then it vanishes within seconds. Right?

Gary:  That’s the goal of Snapchat. That’s the whole selling point. That is Snapchat.

Julie:  And can you use Snapchat on any device?

Gary:  No, you can actually only use it on a smartphone. So you’re not using it on a computer…

Julie:  That’s exclusive!

Gary:  It is, but it’s also yours. You get to hold onto it. And you get to have conversations with your friends using all their features. So, you could do a video, you could do a photo, you could do text. And it’s this private…

Julie:  Supposedly!

Gary:  ...conversation. I don’t know many adults using it, but I do know a few.

Julie:  I have to check it out. I am curious.

Gary:  It’s free.

Julie:  Even better.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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