Questions to Ask Snapchat
Short questions to send someone on Snapchat, ordered from easy openers to more personal ones, with notes on which get real replies, which can be answered with a photo, and what not to ask someone you barely know.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are you supposed to be doing right now?
Why ask it
Almost everyone is avoiding something, so this gets a real answer quickly and hands you an obvious follow-up. It works better than asking what they are doing, which usually comes back as nothing much.
What does it look like where you are?
Why ask it
Answerable with a photo, which is the one thing this app makes easier than texting. Lowering the effort of a reply matters most with people who are slow to answer anything that needs typing.
What is the last photo in your camera roll?
Why ask it
You find out whether their life is dogs, receipts, screenshots, or their own face. The photo they describe instead of sending is usually the more interesting one to ask about.
What song is stuck in your head?
Why ask it
Cheap to answer, and it opens into music without the dead weight of asking someone's favorite band. A named song also gives you something to send back, which keeps the exchange going.
What is the weirdest thing in your room?
Why ask it
Every room contains one inherited object nobody would have chosen. This gets a specific story rather than a summary of their personality, and the photo tends to arrive unprompted.
What is the pettiest thing that annoys you?
Why ask it
People are far more honest about small irritations than large ones. It also shows whether they can be funny without needing a target, which is worth knowing early.
What have you rewatched more than three times?
Why ask it
Rewatching is a comfort habit, so the answer points at what they use to switch off. Naming something they know is bad means they can be unguarded, which is rare this early in a conversation.
What did you believe as a kid for way too long?
Why ask it
Safe to admit and usually genuinely funny. Watch whether they can laugh at their younger self or have to make it somebody else's fault for lying to them.
What is your most used emoji, and does it actually fit you?
Why ask it
Small, silly, and specific to talking by phone. The gap between the one they overuse and how they actually behave is where the joke is, and they can check the answer in seconds.
What is the worst haircut you have ever had?
Why ask it
A story with a photo attached, and most people are willing to send the photo. Self-deprecation is the fastest way to stop a chat feeling like an interview.
What are you secretly good at?
Why ask it
Secretly good at gets better answers than talented, because it invites something they have never been given credit for. Expect accents, card tricks, parallel parking, or something oddly narrow.
Which of your friends would last longest without a phone?
Why ask it
Asking about their friends is easier to answer than asking them to describe themselves, and it quietly tells you who is actually in their life and how they talk about people behind their backs.
What is the most embarrassing thing in your music library?
Why ask it
Naming a guilty pleasure makes people feel let off the hook, so the next few answers usually loosen up. If they insist nothing in there is embarrassing, they are still managing how they look.
What is a rumor you heard about yourself that was not true?
Why ask it
Nearly everyone has one and almost never gets the chance to correct it. The answer often explains how they think other people see them, which shifts the conversation onto real ground.
What is the nicest thing anyone has said to you that you still think about?
Why ask it
Raises the tone without making it heavy. What someone still remembers being told usually points at the thing they are least certain of about themselves.
What do you want to do this year that you have not told anyone about?
Why ask it
An unshared plan is more revealing than a stated goal because nobody is holding them to it yet. Do not repeat it to anyone else afterwards; that is the whole reason they answered.
What are you worried about that you keep making jokes about?
Why ask it
Joking is how most people carry a worry around. Asking directly gives them the option to drop the joke, and if they keep it up, that is an answer too and it should be left alone.
Who do you wish would message you first?
Why ask it
Flirty without being a confession, and it works whichever way the answer goes. If the answer is a friend they are stuck on, that is useful information to have before you invest much more.
What would you say to me out loud that you would not type?
Why ask it
Chat flattens tone and most people know exactly what they cannot say in writing. If the answer is nothing, you have learned where the conversation currently stands.
What do you want to ask me that you have not?
Why ask it
Ends by handing the turn over. A chat where only one person asks the questions starts reading as an interview by about the fifth message, and this is the cheapest way to fix it.
Making a Snapchat conversation actually go somewhere
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Keeping it a conversation, not a streak
- Send one question at a time. A stack of three gets one answer, usually to the easiest of them.
- Answer your own question in the same message. It halves the effort of replying and stops the chat feeling like a form.
- Prefer questions a photo can answer. People who hate typing will still send a picture of their desk or their dog.
- If two questions in a row come back as one word, stop asking and say something about your own day instead. The problem is the format, not the person.
Timing
- Late evening gets longer answers than mid-afternoon, when most people are between other things.
- Do not open with a personal question after a long silence. Send something light first and let the chat warm up.
- Give a real answer time to arrive. Double messaging or screenshotting within a minute reads as pressure.
- Leave the heavier questions for a chat that is already moving. A serious question sent cold usually gets a joke back.
What not to ask
- Anything about who else they talk to, their friends list, or why their score moved. However lightly it is meant, it reads as monitoring.
- Photos of themselves they have not offered.
- Questions about an ex in the first few conversations. It puts the chat somewhere neither of you can leave gracefully.
- Long runs of would you rather. They fill time without either of you learning anything.
If you do not know them well
- Assume anything you send can be captured and shown to other people, whatever the app suggests about disappearing.
- Keep location sharing off with anyone you have not met in person. It is the setting people most often forget is on.
- Do not answer questions that narrow down where you live, where you study, or when you are home alone.
- If you are a teenager and an adult you do not know starts asking personal questions, tell someone you trust and use the block and report options rather than replying.