For once, it’s not Facebook but Snapchat that’s being blamed for creating friction among romantically involved couples, mainly by inducing jealousy. The photo-sharing application which notably used for flirting and ‘sexting’, no matter what the nobler intentions of the developers may have been, is known for its self-destructing action that’s applied to content being shared.
Snapchat, first launched in 2011, allows users to select a time range for the images and videos they send, after which the item is deleted from the app’s server and the receiver’s device. A study by Nicole Muscanel and colleagues was published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Muscanel found out that the privacy and smaller group of subscribers present in the application in question as compared to Facebook, makes it more likely to induce higher amounts of jealousy in romantic relationships.
Though even Facebook apparently accounted for jealousy among romantic partners, couples elicited higher levels of jealous behavior when their partner used Snapchat. This could be because people would become more distrustful if their other half chose to use a more private communication method for connecting with others who could include former lovers or prospective opponents.
Also see: Blackberry Messenger now features self-destructing messages just like Snapchat
In contrast, users were reportedly more jealous when they received ‘posts’ from former partners or romantic rivals on Facebook. Indicating that receiving envy-provoking content on the public domain brings out higher levels of reactive jealousy. The research which mostly focused on European social media users found out that procrastination, distraction and connecting with friends were the most popular reasons for using Facebook and Snapchat.
To no one’s surprise, the amount of popularity enjoyed by others was cited as a common reason of jealousy on both platforms. The results from the study supports prior assumptions that social media elicits jealousy, albeit not in high levels. But Snapchat certainly evokes stronger envious feelings among its users when compared to Facebook.