Snapchat has its risks but it's a powerful tool for youth creativity and socialisation

Charlene takes a picture of her dog with her smartphone and morphs his face onto hers to make a hybrid creature. She sends it to dozens of her friends and acquaintances. Over the next 23-hour period, 70 of Charlene's friends view it. Many reply with pictures of their own, some clutching dogs or cats, some with hybrid faces themselves. Some have accompanying text: "Aww weird!" or "That's an improvement!" It sounds like typical teenage high jinks, and it's all done via Snapchat, the ephemeral messaging app where posts are automatically deleted after a few seconds, or 24 hours if they're posted to the user's "My story" page.