What is going on at the top of Reddit SnapChat? That’s the question I’m trying to answer here.
So far, I’ve noticed a number of links that are actually ads in the middle of the Reddit page. So, you’ll note I haven’t been posting links here that lead to pornography. (I’d never even heard of SnapChat until a couple hours ago!)
Instead, I’m focusing on the sexual exploration of sex and intimacy through the story of a gay teenager growing up in the ‘burbs. In my post, I’m trying to make a point about society accepting queer people more, and giving them a much greater role in American life.
For one thing, the role of the mainstream gay community in the mainstream media has been waning for years, while queer communities have grown. Here’s what I mean. The media has tended to write off celebrities as ‘gay for hire’ – whatever the trend is, celebrities don’t want to say that they’re gay, so they just appear gay – and the gay community has accepted them as such.
This is OK, because the media wants to put their shows on the air and show the world how normal and acceptable it is to be queer. But what about the closeted gay teenagers? I ask, because they’re not getting much attention from the mainstream media – they’re relegated to the margins, with only a few out there.
Well, the media also needs to show that queers exist, and the reason is simple: it’s about the same economic power as the straight community needs to be presented as the norm. Gay couples make lots of money, they run the same corporations, and they vote. Not to mention, if gay people wish to adopt children, they are granted custody in 90% of all cases. But snapchat is a different story. It’s not about the power of the community, but the power of the user – all over the world, millions of people are recording themselves with their phones, exchanging stories and photos. They are more than ready to experiment and open up to others.
The advertising model on Snapchat is about personalising and personalisation. These are among the reasons why it works. Rather than targeting the market for a particular product, it encourages users to upload whatever they want – and more of these photographs are being uploaded every day.
Another reason why it is so successful is that most of the content has already been recorded on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. It all looks like a chat show – where each person has a microphone and camera and can express their innermost desires and fantasies for the other person. There is no boundary to what they can say or how explicit they can be.
So, what’s the point of all this? Well, I’m doing this to draw attention to a very controversial topic. I can’t really know the ultimate purpose of all this, but it is meant to encourage gay people to be open about who they are, and help gay teenagers come out of the closet – or in some cases, be out to their parents.
In that sense, I think this whole story, along with all the snapshots that come afterwards, is an interesting twist on the way that Reddit users are feeling and communicating with each other. Reddit users are looking to one another for advice, and they’re trying to find out what the real world looks like.
And to some extent, that’s part of the answer to my question: what’s going on at the top of Reddit SnapChat? Because in the last couple of hours, I’ve read many stories of young gay men, grown men, people with children, and just plain old people… saying stuff that should be kept inside the bedroom, and expressing their deepest desires for one another.
