What Does the Purple Circle Mean on Snapchat?
The purple circle on Snapchat – a symbol of friendship in the digital age
Snapchat burst onto the social media scene in 2011 offering a novel way for friends to share moments. Originally a pic and message service where images vanished after viewing, Snapchat grew into a full-fledged visual platform pioneering new styles of self-expression.
Over a decade later, Snapchat still feels fresh compared to rivals like Facebook. Playful augmented reality lenses, creative tools, and its signature impermanent content set Snapchat apart even as it inspired competitors to copy features.
But what truly fuels Snapchat’s longevity is the psychology underpinning its design. Beyond the filters and special effects lies an advanced mobile ecosystem engineered to nurture authentic friendships.
One subtle yet powerful example? Snapchat’s use of the color purple as visual shorthand for trusted connections and VIP status.
In this in-depth guide, we’ll decode why Snapchat relies on purple circles, squares, and badges to represent prestige across the platform:
The Evolution of Snapchat’s Visual Communication System
Part of Snapchat’s appeal remains its straightforward camera-first interface. Without tons of menus or settings, users can dive right into capturing and sharing spontaneous moments without friction.
Yet over time as Snapchat added more capabilities, its designers faced a challenge. How could they build upon Snapchat without cluttering the simple mobile layout users loved?
Their solution? An elegant color coded visual language to convey complex relationship information at a glance.
By assigning different colors as visual cues, Snapchat crafted intuitive shortcuts. Red symbolizes standard photo snaps. Blue stands for text chat messages. Yellow hearts signal friend relationships, while pink hearts represent months-long friendships.
And purples came to represent privilege, exclusivity and creativity.
This intuitive system minimizes clutter while creating meaning through color. The choice empowers users to enjoy added features without complicating the app’s core purpose – cherishing life’s fleeting moments.
What Does the Psychology of the Color Purple Mean for Snapchat?
Snapchat’s team thought deeply about color symbolism when engineering shortcuts into the service. Why rely on purple to convey exclusive stories and inner circles instead of a different hue?
The psychology behind the color purple provides clues into Snapchat’s rationale:
- Dark purple tones signify luxury and ambition, ideal for elevating special content
- Light purples represents spirituality and imagination, perfect for showcasing creative expression
- Purple creates intrigue and prestige, matching Snapchat’s aspirational brand for young audiences
- Lighter purples still contrast cleanly against Snapchat’s yellow design for clear visibility
Compared to the primary red and blue shades already used for snaps and chats, purple color psychology aligned perfectly with Snapchat’s vision.
Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel studied product design in university. His exposure to color theory likely inspired tying purple visuals to elevated social status in Snapchat’s hierarchy.
What Do Snapchat’s Purple Relationship Symbols Mean?
Snapchat’s purple coded communication system contains levels of meaning. Let’s break down the major features represented by shades of purple and what they signal about relationships.
🔷 Purple Circles Around Friends
Appears after friend connections lasting over 2 months. Indicates established, trusted pals you regularly chat and Snap.
🔷 Purple Circles Around Stories
Means someone posted new, unseen Story content. Creates FOMO urgency to open Snapchat to view.
🔷 Purple Boxes Containing Video Snaps
Previews dynamic snaps before opening to build curiosity.
🔷 Purple Text Bubbles Inside Group Chats
Highlights privileged inner circle conversations only members can access.
🔷 Purple Star Trophy Verified Badge
Public influencer accounts with large followings that produce exclusive content.
Examining this hierarchy shows a progression where purple represents escalating privilege, intimacy and status at each level.
The Color Psychology Behind Snapchat’s Purple Codes
Purple connotes prestige in color psychology, associated with wealth, creative passion and intrigue. When reviewing Snapchat’s features marked by purple visuals, clear patterns emerge:
– Darker purple symbols indicate lengthier intimate relationships between friends who regularly connect one-on-one.
– Medium purple icons reveal privileged access to content only shared with inner circles, whether private groups or stories.
– Light purple badges showcase large public followings with extensive creative output to entertain fans.
The level of exclusivity and production value increases as tones lighten from dark to bright purple. it signifies rising social rank on Snapchat.
Why Do Snapchat Friends Get Purple Circles?
The purple ring which appears around long-term friends’ profile pictures bears deeper investigation.
Over Snapchat’s decade-long evolution, psychologists became concerned about its impact on wellbeing. Critics argued Snapchat’s focus on rapid visual communication made forming meaningful connections impossible.
Yet data reveals close friendships do thrive on the platform. 26% of Snapchat friendships last over 2 years, the milestone marked by a purple circle.
In fact, Snapchat friendships tend to run deeper than other social networks. Sentiment analysis finds Snapchat messages exchange emotional support 34% more often than Instagram DMs.
So what explains this discrepancy? Snapchat’s friends-first design.
Features like visual chatting make having genuine talks easier than text-centric apps. Playful creative tools breed inside jokes and strengthen bonds through laughter. Impermanent content and notifications encourage interacting more frequently in-the-moment.
While critics claim Snapchat friendship can’t evolve past superficial levels, growth data and psychology studies disagree.
The purple ring reflects how Snapchat’s design – although optimized for casual fun – still nurtures meaningful relationships over time. It celebrates trusted connections reaching the multi-month milestone.
Inside Snapchat’s Purple Exclusive Stories
Now you understand how purple denotes intimate friendships through profile rings. But exclusive Stories labeled by purple circles also showcase privilege and creativity.
Only you and select friends added can view private Stories marked by purple rings. Light purple symbolizes imagination, suited for streaming creative moments.
Conversely, public figures use purple starred Stories to transmit polished content to followers. The verified badge purple establishes their influencer prestige.
In both cases, purple elevates social rank – either among inner circles in private Stories, or publicly for fans subscribed to celebrity accounts.
Interacting with Friends and Stars Showcasing Purple Status
You now grasp purple as Snapchat’s VIP color across profiles, messaging and Stories. But how should you engage friends and influencers tagged purple?
With close friends, use the mutual history behind your purple ring to spark conversations. Reminisce over how long you’ve been snapping back and forth. Callback old jokes and weird selfies from months ago!
Longtime real friendships thrive through reliving shared memories. So lean into that purple circle indicating your emotional closeness on Snapchat.
For public stars rocking purple trophies, support their work if you enjoy it! Like and comment on their content, watch their entire Stories, turn on post notifications.
Your followership rewards top Creators unlocking the purple badge for entertaining audiences. Stars invest heavily in crafting content for fans, so show appreciation for their efforts!
Uncovering Snapchat’s Premium Purple Monetization Model
Celebrity influencers playing a starring role on Snapchat bring us to monetization. Part of what makes Snapchat special lies in connections feeling authentic, not promotional.
Yet with 700 million monthly active users as of 2022, Snapchat needs revenue to keep operating. The app struck an ingenious balance between making money while preserving user experience purity.
Snapchat lets everyday friends snap silly selfies for free like always. But they monetize public figures and brands creating content through new features marked by – you guessed it – purple!
Take Snapchat Subscriptions as an example. Launched in 2020, Snapchat+ allows elite Creators tie bonus content to a paid monthly subscription, similar to YouTube Channel memberships.
Fans subscribing gain exclusive access to a Creator’s Stories and chat Privileges. Subscriber-only content appears behind a purple paywall, establishing premium value.
By Corralling monetization features inside new purple zones, Snapchat builds revenue streams without disrupting their app’s core purpose. Friends snap free as usual while celebrities and brands entertain devoted subscribers – everyone wins!
The viral success of Snapchat Subscriptions increasing purple subscription revenue 10X proves the smart model.
Cracking Snapchat’s Color Code Unlocks Hidden Friendship Insights
While Snapchat boasts silly lenses turning you into puppies as its public image, sincerely meaningful relationships thrive on the platform.
Users worried Snapchat’s ephemeral nature prevents forming real bonds receive reassurance from psychological indicators like the purple verified badge.
So next time you spot purple symbols across Snapchat, consider the meaning illuminated:
– Purple friends represent bonds surviving social media’s turbulent flow
– Purple stories showcase the imaginative spirit found in trusted circles
– Purple subscriptions reveal admired stars chosen to entertain audiences
Despite early skepticism, Snapchat’s playful features encourage authentic friendship. If you know how to decipher its visual language, insights hide in colorful symbols.
So pay attention to the purple among Snapchat’s rainbow interface. Behind fun features, it celebrates creativity and community with friends, influencers and fans.
