Venmo is Basically Social Media

When we think of social media, the apps that immediately come to mind are Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. Of course there are others too, but those are the ones that our generation use the most frequently.

 

What do all those social media apps have in common? They’re a means to interact, share, and communicate with others virtually. Venmo, the app that is a savior for college students, is the same thing, with the added bonus of being a way to pay others back.

Like many social media apps, Venmo has its own culture. The app requires a description for the payments, but it’s rare that the descriptions explicitly say what is being paid for. Instead, people use emojis, funny one-liners, or vague references. My friends and I have spent long amounts of time thinking about adequate captions, and I even have friends who have genuinely attempted to decline payments because the caption was too boring. The captions are entertaining, and it is admittedly fun to scroll through the feeds and try to figure out what on Earth people are paying for based on their obscure captions.

 

Even further than mindlessly scrolling through feeds for a good laugh, some people use Venmo as a means to sleuth around. One girl recently went viral on Twitter because she admitted she figured out the ending to Colton’s season of The Bachelor by stalking his Venmo friends. 

 

Venmo is more than just a transaction, it’s a social affair. When you make a payment on Venmo, the default is that it becomes a post on a public feed. Venmo is useful, fun, and I consider it to be a form of social networking. 

 

What do you think?

• apps
• college
• expenses
• finances
• friends
• money
• Pepperdine
• social media
• technology
• Venmo