As you know, Snapchat is a very popular app with young people. While 13 years is the minimum age for pupils to use this app, almost all of our young people seem have and use it.

Pupils say that they like Snapchat because they can easily link with their friends, have group chats, use it for group face time calls and over time, and that they enjoy memory flashbacks.

A key feature about Snapchat is that messages disappear after a short period of time. The sender can decide what this period of time is. That means that there is no evidence of what was said or sent later.

It has come to our attention that young people have received a number of offensive unwanted messages and videos through Snapchat - sometimes from people that they do not know. Our advice is always firmly not to link with anyone who is not an actual friend.

There has been an increase in anonymous or fake accounts being set up. We would strongly advise that young people do not respond, communicate or accept any messages from new or unknown contacts.

Other observations are that some young people become addicted to building the number of streaks they have with contacts and are regularly interrupted due to notifications.

Snap Maps

Some features of Snap Maps:

• Young people can find their friends. This can be set up so that only targeted friends can see them on maps.

• Young people can turn to ghost mode so that they cannot be seen at all on a map

• Snapchat premium allows young people to track where friends have been in the last 24 hours

• Young people can can add their location and snaps to snap maps