  Public sharing is integral to online platforms. This includes the popular
multimedia messaging application Snapchat, on which public sharing is
relatively new and unexplored in prior research. In mobile-first applications,
sharing contexts are dynamic. However, it is unclear how context impacts users'
sharing decisions. As platforms increasingly rely on user-generated content, it
is important to also broadly understand user motivations and considerations in
public sharing. We explored these aspects of content sharing through a survey
of 1,515 Snapchat users. Our results indicate that users primarily have
intrinsic motivations for publicly sharing Snaps, such as to share an
experience with the world, but also have considerations related to audience and
sensitivity of content. Additionally, we found that Snaps shared publicly were
contextually different from those privately shared. Our findings suggest that
content sharing systems can be designed to support sharing motivations, yet
also be sensitive to private contexts.
