Three millennials from India have established a domestic abuse advice account on Snapchat for Indian teenagers who feel they may be in abusive relationships.

Snapchat is the fastest growing and most prolifically used social networking app amongst millennials. Though Facebook is still ranked as the most widespread in terms of usage, thanks to 200 million active monthly users and 400 million snaps per day, the growth of Snapchat has been significant.

The typical snap currently consists of little more than doodle-imposed images, narcissistic stories or funny videos. However, three twenty-something Indians – Avani Parekh, Nida Sheriff and Rajshekar Patil – have devised a beneficial use for the app and it’s huge reach. Working in collaboration with counselling service Love Doctor and domestic abuse relief charity Chayn India, they‘ve created a Snapchat account called ‘lovedoctordotin’ which teens can use to source practical advice.

The hope is that lovedoctordotin will connect teens and at risk young people (between the ages of 16-24) who feel they may be in potentially abusive relationships with trained counselors via Snapchat.

Social media is increasingly being utilised as a tool to combat social issues. We recently wrote about how Instagram is being used as a tool to combat colourism.

We serve as a best friend who asks you the tough questions. We won’t tell anyone what to do, but if a relationship sounds like it’s abuse, based on the criteria provided by Chayn India, we don’t hesitate to say - Avani Parekh Snapchat’s most distinguishable feature is its inability to save messages between users, making it the ideal forum for victims of domestic abuse to talk through their issues confidentially.