Snapchat is thriving and that’s a great sign for your privacy

What do you think of when you think of Snapchat? Probably silly teenagers, dumb photos and sexting. But don’t miss the bigger picture of an app that could stand for something much more significant: a return of some online privacy.

Long ago, we surrendered our privacy on social networks. Snapchat has a chance to follow Facebook’s trajectory because it’s totally different -- a social network about privacy. While Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook trumpet the benefits of openness, Snapchat realizes some conversations and photos are best when not shared with all 237 of your contacts. All of the positive news for Snapchat lately indicates it is on to something. A study found that 9 percent of cellphone owners use Snapchat. About 350 million snaps are shared every day.