Middle-aged turn to Snapchat to keep affairs secret

SNAPCHAT is becoming a tool used to conduct secret affairs amid a surge in middle-aged people using social media.

The combination of Snapchat’s ageing demographic and its “disposable” messaging system means it is now an ideal tool being discovered by middleaged people who want to hide communication with their lover from their husband or wife, experts said.

The app lets users send each other short videos and photos, or “snaps”, which are automatically deleted after a single viewing, meaning they are less likely to be discovered by a snooping partner.

Last year the number of 45- to 54-year-olds using Snapchat in the US increased by 38 per cent from 3.4million to 4.7 million, according to data from technology analysts emarketer.

By 2022 around a quarter (24 per cent) of 45- to 54-year-olds will use the app, up from 16 per cent last year, it said. In the early 2000s the social networking website Friends Reunited, set up to reconnect old school friends, was blamed for the break-up of marriages and relationships as people sought out their childhood sweethearts.

Andrew Newbury, a partner with Hall Brown Family Law, said that adoption of social media had become “an evolving trend” in divorce, with Snapchat set to become the next big cheating platform.

He said: “What we’ve seen is something of a technological cascade with spouses in older age groups latching on to apps or social media platforms which had initially been adopted by younger men and women.

“Snapchat is a relatively newer app and the pattern of adoption means that it may well feature in divorce cases in the future. That’s particularly true, given that it is another way in which individuals conducting affairs can do so without being noticed.”

Meanwhile, the rise in older users is expected to impact its appeal for younger users, a problem that Facebook has experienced in recent years. According to emarketer’s latest forecast on social network usage, Facebook is losing younger users at an even faster pace than previously expected. This year, for the first time, less than half of US internet users aged 12 to 17 will use Facebook, it found. Facebook will also lose two million users under 25 this year, emarketer estimates.

Debra Aho Williamson, the principal analyst for emarketer, said: “The question will be whether younger users will still find Snapchat cool if more of their parents and grandparents are on it.”