If you hadn’t heard, Monday was April 20, occassionally called "stoner day" (4/20). If you had forgotten this day, all you had to do was take a quick peek at gamecock_snap, a Snapchat account that USC students can send pictures to, and you were quickly reminded.
Gamecock_snap has now made its way to an app called Yeti while still operating on Snapchat. Yeti is an app shows the Snapchat stories of nearby users.
Yeti is like Yik Yak but strictly picture-based.
Gamecock_snap made it abundantly clear that Monday was a day devoted to sitting back and getting stoned. Snap after snap was devoted to nothing but marijuana.
Gamecock_snap first got its start as a Snapchat story that USC students could send their snaps to for the Gamecock community to see. The Snapchat story has quickly moved to people showing off their dogs and their drug use, among other things.
“Well I like gamecock_snaps because it provides a much more in-the-moment view of student life that is less posed and edited than other forms of social media,” said Maggie Rupp, a fourth year political science student.
The Snapchat story and Yeti are not limited to just USC students. Anyone who knows the username for the gamecock_snap account can add the story onto his or her Snapchat. Yeti users simply download the app and pick USC as the location.
This means that people not a part of the Gamecock community can send in their snaps too. It also means that police can see everything on that story.
"It is possible for a student to face criminal or student conduct charges based on items posted here or other social media outlets" said Wes Hickman, Chief Communications Officer for USC. "In an environment where nearly every moment can be captured on a smartphone, students should be aware of their behaviors and act accordingly."
Even posts from anonymous applications can make their way to other social media networks. Two weeks ago, a picture of a girl appearing to have written a racial slur on a whiteboard appeared on Snapchat and within hours the picture had been shared on other social media platforms multiple times.
This example, along with others, shows an unfortunate trend of a lack of awareness.
“Students should be careful with what they post on social media. Snapchat, Instagram, everything they post could be accessible to any viewer once it is posted,” Casie Slaughter, a fourth year advertising major. “Nothing is private. What they post may seem to be funny or humorous but could be hurtful to others.”
“Whether or not someone somewhere can manipulate what you put up, at the end of the day social media can be manipulated and taking out of context, so you have to be very careful about anything you post,” Rupp said.