Keeping It Real On Snapchat

This post was inspired and sponsored by Domain.ME, the provider of the personal domains that end in .ME. As a company, they aim to promote thought leadership to the tech world. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I first heard about Snapchat a few years ago. It’s an app that kids were using to send each other naughty pictures that “disappeared” after 24 hours. Unless of course the recipient took a screen shot. #loophole

Since I don’t like to sext teenagers, I figured it wasn’t for me. Lately I started hearing about Snapchat again in a less-skeezy way. Now regular people mostly use it to share selfies with funny filters that Snapchat calls a lens but everyone else calls a filter.

The app scans your face, superimposes an image that’s funny, scary, or beautifying. Then you can share it with individual friends or save it to your My Story so anyone can see it for 24 hours.

For me Snapchat is a fun way to stay connected with my teenagers. My kids aren’t on Facebook, so it’s a place where we can share funny selfies or a quick message. I think it’s the little bits of contact like this that aren’t about their chores or schoolwork that help us maintain a good relationship.

What I like best about Snapchat is how authentic users are. When I see my friends’ snaps, I’m more likely to see their faces without makeup, the inside of their homes–including a pile of laundry–and their kids natural and un-posed. It’s almost a badge of honor on Snapchat to be a hot mess. So, basically, a place where I can be the Real ME.

I feel more connected to my friends through Snapchat. It’s a social media platform that’s not too commercialized yet. People are still authentically themselves there, and I love them for it.

On many social media platforms, it feels like regular people are trying to Keep Up With famous people. I do love it when you share your posed family pictures, your feet on the beach, your smoothie of the day. #CleanEating #ChiaIsTheNewFlax

But what I really love is seeing you and your kid dance in your kitchen with the dishes in the sink behind you, your cat napping on that big pile of laundry, your sweaty face as you wait at the DMV. Those things, I can relate to. Those “Authentic Me” moments are where kinship is born.

Sure, your Disney trip, your kid’s graduation, that ariana grande latte are cool, but please let me see some of the real you. I like the real you best of all.

Domain.Me has some tips for being more authentic online. I think they are just good advice for life in general.

• Be real.
• Be true to the words you speak.
• Be accountable.
• Know your limits.

No matter what the platform, we are always branding ourselves, whether it’s as Hot Mess, Influencer, or Expert–or even as all three. Have a more authentic online personality with the help of Domain.ME. Owning a website with your name and a .ME extension is a great way to show the world who you really are.

.ME domains are great for personal websites, such as blogs, online portfolios, or aliases for social network profiles. Soon I’m changing this website to my own .ME!

So, tell me how you keep it real online. What’s the most real thing you ever posted on-line? Keep it funny and clean, please!