Snapchat is an app that has found an extreme amount of success over the past couple years and is only growing larger as a social media platform. However, ever so often a platform will make a mistake that causes it to receive a large amount of negative press. Facebook was recently investigated for selling people’s information to companies. Snapchat, in 2018, made a mistake that upset the singer Rihanna. They app asked people if they wanted to slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown. It was part of an ad for a game called “Would You Rather” and Snapchat did apologize for it, but the damage has already been done.

When a social media platform gets as big as Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram celebrities start to have a massive effect on how the platform moves forward. Typically, whatever platform a celebrity uses tends to be the one people use so they can follow their favorite actor, singer, etc. In order to maintain a good audience an app must take these people into consideration and what Snapchat did really hurt them, because now all the Rihanna fans have an even larger reason to leave the app. She already hated the app, but after this she condemned it and urged her fans to uninstall the app. While not everyone will there is still a large amount of Rihanna fans who will just do it because she said so. The power celebrities hold over social media is remarkable because if enough of them leave a platform there is a high chance that platform will just fade away. These platforms have to stay in these people’s good graces because they attract so many other to take part in their platforms.

Celebrities are such a large part of social media platforms and they need one another. Celebrities need social media to post and talk with the public. However, social media needs these people to stay relevant as a platform and without them the platform may just die off. This relationship can be easily disrupted in a couple ways, like Snapchat and Rihanna. We often think of the platform as the one holding all the cards but if we stop using the app or website then they die off and there is nothing they can do. That is why these apps and platforms have to make sure they are satisfying all their users so that they continue to be users.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/business/rihanna-hits-snapchat-where-it-hurts/

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~amb98/leah.html

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/32/