One of the main appeals of Snapchat is that it allows users to share ephemeral photos, videos, and messages that disappear after being viewed. This creates a sense of privacy and intimacy, as what you share isn’t permanently posted for all to see.
One unique Snapchat feature that enhances this feeling of privacy is the ability to create private friendships.
Private friendships allow you to share stories and snaps that only specific friends can view. It keeps that communication separate from your main friend list.
So what exactly does a private friendship mean on Snapchat, and how does it work?
Here’s a closer look at how private friendships function and their implications for your Snapchat habits and relationships.
What Is a Private Friendship on Snapchat?
A private friendship on Snapchat allows you to share stories and snaps with only a select friend, keeping that communication separate from your main friends list.
When you have a private friend, a special emoji will appear next to their name in your chats. This identifies them as a private friend versus a regular friend. The emoji helps remind you that this friend can view certain content that your other friends can’t.
You can create a private friendship from your friends list by tapping and holding on a friend’s name. An option will pop up to “Add Private Story with…” Clicking on that will immediately make that friend a private friend.
Once you’ve created a private friendship, a new tab will appear in your stories section labeled “My Eyes Only.” This is where you can post stories, photos, and videos that only your private friend will be able to view. Anything posted to your main story or other friend groups won’t be visible.
Likewise, your private friend can create stories just for you in the “Their Eyes Only” tab. This keeps your communication exclusive from both of your other friends.
The My Eyes Only tab also allows you to hide saved snaps. If you don’t want other friends seeing certain saved messages or photos, you can move them to the My Eyes Only area where only your private friend will have access.
Overall, a private friendship represents a closer, more intimate connection on Snapchat. It’s a way to share content and messages with one special confidant apart from the rest of your audience.
How to Use Private Friendships
Here are some tips on using Snapchat’s private friendships:
– Be selective – Don’t just make everyone a private friend or it defeats the purpose. Reserve it for one or two true confidants.
– Personalize communication – Take advantage of the privacy to share more personal content like inside jokes, silly selfies, long chat sessions, etc.
– Share privately – Remember to post more sensitive content to your private story rather than your main story. Adjust privacy settings on snaps accordingly.
– Customize emojis – You can change the private friendship emoji to better suit your relationship with that friend.
– Leverage chat – You can still chat normally with a private friend. The exclusive stories are just one part of your communication.
– Keep things positive – Don’t use private friendships to gossip, bully, or share inappropriate content. Maintain the intimacy.
– Balance public and private – Don’t neglect your main friendships and stories. Find a balance between the two.
– Delete if needed – If the friendship changes, you can always remove the private friend designation and return to a regular friendship.
Using these tips will help you get the most out of Snapchat’s private friendships while maintaining your overall friend network.
Reasons People Use Private Friendships
There are many reasons Snapchat users take advantage of private friendships. Here are some of the most common motivations:
– Enhanced Privacy – Keep flirty, silly, or personal content away from wider friend groups who don’t need to see it.
– Share Selectively – Share day-to-day moments with your closest friend but not every single acquaintance.
– Strengthen Bonds – Creates intimacy that helps fortify meaningful relationships in your life.
– Customize Content – Craft snaps and stories specifically tailored to the interests of that one friend.
– Daily Communication – Maintain an ongoing digital conversation through snaps, chat, and reactions.
– Support System – Rely on your private friend for comfort, advice, or empathy during tough times.
– Fun and Humor – Send extra goofy or weird content just to make your private buddy laugh.
– Share Burdens – Discuss problems and seek encouragement from your most trusted confidant.
– Relationship Building – Lay the foundation for an eventual romantic relationship.
– Escape Public Pressure – Avoid overthinking content by sharing spontaneously with your private friend.
– Inside Jokes – Enjoy personal humor and references that would confuse other friends.
Ultimately, Snapchat private friendships reveal who your number one go-to friend is at the moment. The extra privacy helps you strengthen that special bond in a way main friend lists can’t.
Benefits of Private Snapchat Friendships
Using Snapchat’s private friendships feature offers several advantages:
– Strengthens intimacy – Fosters a closer, more trusting relationship with your best friend.
– Provides privacy – Keeps personal content and inside jokes away from wider audiences.
– Customizes communication – Tailor snaps and stories specifically for one friend instead of groups.
– Enables openness – Share silly, embarrassing, or vulnerable sides of yourself more comfortably.
– Creates exclusivity – Makes your friend feel special by sharing exclusive stories with them.
– Facilitates bonding – Gives you a unique way to fortify your connection and understand each other better.
– Allows for deeper conversation – The privacy enables more personal, substantial discussions.
– Removes pressure – Alleviates stress about posting content to large friend groups and the public.
– Conveys closeness – Signals to your friend that they are your most trusted confidant.
– Provides support – Turn to your private friend for encouragement and advice during difficult times.
– Enhances existing friendship – Breathes new life into a friendship by engaging privately on Snapchat.
Overall, if used intentionally, Snapchat’s private friendships can take your closest friendships to exciting new levels. The extra privacy provides comfort to share, support, and joke around in ways you can’t with other friends.
Risks of Private Friendships on Snapchat
While private Snapchat friendships can be positive, there are also some potential downsides to be aware of:
– Excluding other friends – It may cause jealousy and hurt feelings from friends not chosen.
– Crossing boundaries – The privacy could facilitate inappropriate or unethical communication.
– Creating distance – You may drift apart from other friendships that see less of your time and focus.
– Enabling emotional cheating – Flirty, personal snaps could betray a romantic relationship.
– Facilitating gossip – You may be tempted to talk negatively about other friends.
– Sharing too much – Oversharing personal details could make your friend uncomfortable.
– Feeling pressure to respond – Your friend may feel obligated to frequently view your private content.
– Losing perspective – You may become immersed in your digital friendship without giving equal focus to real life interactions.
– Forming an unrealistic bond – Private messaging creates intimacy but doesn’t guarantee true friendship.
– Losing a friendship – Arguments or misunderstandings with your private friend could end the friendship entirely.
Being thoughtful about setting boundaries and communicating kindly is key to avoiding pitfalls. Overall, approach private friendships in moderation.
Signs It’s Time to End a Private Snapchat Friendship
Private Snapchat friendships are great when used properly. However, there are times when it may be healthiest to remove a friend’s private status and return to a normal friendship. Here are some signs indicating it’s time for that change:
– One-sided sharing – They don’t reciprocate by posting content just for you.
– Flirtatious comments – Your conversations have become uncomfortably romantic.
– Excessive messaging – You feel overwhelmed or smothered by their frequent communication.
– Toxic negativity – Venting to each other no longer feels healthy or uplifting.
– Lack of real life interaction – Your in-person friendship has faded.
– Drama and gossip – Your private discussions have become catty.
– Shared insecurity – The friendship magnifies your self-doubt instead of building confidence.
– Crossing boundaries – They overshare private details about themselves or others.
– Jealous reactions – Your other friends are growing resentful of your exclusive friendship.
– Emotional cheating – You’ve grown emotionally attached despite being in a relationship.
If you’re questioning the value of a private Snapchat friendship, it’s worth re-evaluating. Reset boundaries or remove the exclusivity if needed to improve the health of the friendship.
Setting Boundaries in Private Snapchat Friendships
To keep private Snapchat friendships healthy and beneficial, it’s important to establish boundaries. Here are some tips:
– Limit private friend count – Keep it 1-3 true confidants to maintain the meaning.
– Discuss expectations – Have an open talk about what you’re both comfortable posting and viewing.
– Customize your settings – Use Snapchat’s privacy tools to control who sees certain content.
– Maintain other friends – Don’t neglect real life friends just because you message one friend more.
– Avoid romantic talk – Be cautious sharing overly flirty, intimate comments if you or your friend are in a relationship.
– Keep personal details limited – Be selective about the private details you share about yourself or others.
– Steer clear of gossip – Don’t use private status as an opportunity to speak negatively about friends.
– Don’t overshare – Getting too graphic or disclosing private information may make your friend uncomfortable.
– Give each other space – Respect each other’s time and don’t demand constant communication.
– Keep perspective – Remember your private digital friendship doesn’t equate to real intimacy.
Discussing ground rules openly helps ensure you both use the private friendship feature in a fun, ethical manner that adds positivity to your lives.
Transitioning a Private Friend to a Regular Friend
There may come a time when you need to transition your Snapchat private friend back to a regular friend. Whether the circumstances have changed or you just feel it’s time, here are some tips for navigating that transition smoothly:
– Communicate your thoughts – Have an open, honest discussion about your reasons for wanting to make the change.
– Remove private status – Officially change their friend status back to a regular friend in your Snapchat settings.
– Take a social media break – Consider temporarily limiting contact or muting each other for a short period to ease the transition.
– Find new confidants – Redirect the intimate communication you shared with them by finding another trustworthy friend.
– Interact in group settings – Make an effort to hang out together in groups to take pressure off one-on-one interaction.
– Put energy into other friendships – Reinvest time into nurturing your relationships with a broader circle of friends.
– Keep conversations casual at first – Don’t spill your guts emotionally to them right away. Rebuild slowly.
– Save special snaps – To reminisce later, take screenshots of some favorite memories before deleting private content.
– Focus on real life – Make time for offline activities together and keep your friendship grounded in person.
With care and open communication, the adjustment from private to regular friend can end up strengthening your bond in new, more balanced ways in the long run.
Alternatives to Private Snapchat Friendships
For those seeking something similar to Snapchat private friendships, there are alternatives:
– Vaults – Snapchat’s password protected storage areas to hide content from your main Memories.
– Alt accounts – Secondary Snapchat accounts with different friends to separate content.
– Close Friends lists – Share Stories with your closest friends without excluding all others.
– Messenger – Facebook’s Messenger app has disappearing messages and allows you to customize privacy.
– WhatsApp – Popular messaging app with customizable privacy settings for chats and stories.
– Signal – Encrypted messaging app with disappearing messages and privacy controls.
– Telegram – Similar features to Snapchat and lets you delete messages after sending.
– Google Voice – Get a separate private phone number to text and call specific contacts.
– Private Instagram accounts – Share a secondary Instagram with select followers.
– Bonus email accounts – Sign up for a private email account to message specific friends.
– Group chats – Text or chat small groups of your closest friends in a private digital space.
While Snapchat’s private friend feature has unique benefits, these alternatives can also help you maintain the intimacy and privacy you desire in digital friendships.
Maintaining Healthy Snapchat Friendships
Here are some tips to keep your Snapchat friendships, including private ones, healthy and positive:
– Communicate expectations – Discuss what you’re comfortable posting and viewing.
– Limit private friends – Don’t make everyone a private friend or it will lose meaning.
– Customize privacy settings – Use Snapchat’s tools to control who sees certain content.
– Diversify interactions – Don’t let Snapchat dominate your friendship. Make time for in-person activities.
– Take breaks when needed – Temporarily mute friends you feel are overposting.
– Don’t overshare – Keep some personal details between just you and the other person.
– Uplift each other – React positively to posts and send encouraging messages.
– Avoid gossip – Don’t use private status as an opportunity to speak negatively about others.
– Steer clear of comparisons – Don’t compare your Snapchat usage or friend count with others.
– Check in on each other – If someone is posting less or seeming down, reach out.
– Give people space – Don’t demand friends constantly check or respond to your Snaps.
– Keep perspective – A Snapchat friendship does not determine the overall health or depth of your friendship.
Focus on mutual kindness, mature communication, and respecting boundaries to keep your Snapchat social circle fun and drama-free.
Conclusion
Snapchat’s private friendships allow you to share exclusive stories and direct snaps to one special confidant. This provides privacy, intimacy, inside jokes, and fun communication separate from your other friends.
Used selectively and mindfully, private Snapchat friendships can strengthen trust, provide comfort during hard times, and deepen mutual understanding. But it’s also key to maintain boundaries and perspective.
Set expectations openly, avoid hurtful behavior, and focus on enriching real life connections as well. If managed well, private Snapchat friendships can take your most treasured relationship to the next level.