A new survey carried out by Pew Research Centre has revealed that 36% of smartphone owners report using messaging apps including WhatsApp, Kik or iMessage, and 17% use apps that automatically delete sent messages, such as Snapchat.
The survey also shows that both of these types of apps are mostly popular amongst a young demographic. Almost half of smartphone owners aged 18 – 29 use messaging apps, and 41% use apps that routinely delete sent messages.
It is thought that these apps are appealing due to the fact that they are free and when connected to Wi-Fi do not use up SMS or other data. It has also been pointed out they offer “a more private kind of social interaction than traditional social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter”.