Instead of talking about my life, about gradation, or work; I’m going to talk about something that is important to the field I’m going into. Snapchat, a popular social media platform, has recently come out with some updates that have everyone talking about it. I have come here to explain the updates and share what I think.

For a little background for those of you who don’t have the app: Snapchat was launched in September 2011. Snapchat is a free photo messaging application and can basically be used on any mobile device.  This social media app has does not have a computer website, it is only on your phone. In my opinion Snapchat did not really become popular until 2013 but now, there has been 60 million installs of the application.

In the past few months I would say Snapchat has really taken off. It has not only become a place for you and your friends but for marketers too. There are a few updates I want to talk about that really led them to this growth.

1. Starting back in August they launched the live events, these are found on your Story page. This is really awesome because you can see snaps of live events going on. So people who are at the events whether it be celebrities or average people take snaps and they go to a location where people (like me) can watch them from here in NC. For example the most recent ones were: Easter at the White House, Spring Break, Final Four. At first there wasn’t too many but now I feel like there is at least a few a week so I’m sure they got positive feedback from this feature.  Most recently these Stories have had advertisements weaved into this so that’s another good opportunity for companies!

2.  In November they launched “Snapcash”. This feature is a cash feature that you can send money to someone through Snapchat. All you do is go to the chat tab of the person and enter $ and then the amount to send money. You have to enter your debit card information once and then they will just take it directly from your bank account. I have not heard of anyone using this feature, but I do think that it’s not necessary. There are already so many apps that you can easily transfer money to people, why would you use Snapchat? Snapchat is a social media app, it’s not a serious app like your banks app. Honestly I wouldn’t trust this app enough to send money like that.

3. Snapchat has also been developing more and more Geofilters. A Geofilter is a special overlay for your photo that can only be accessed in certain locations. At first there was only ones for big cities like NYC, but now even HPU has its own Geofilter. I think these have been a HUGE hit. I know my friends and I were so excited when HPU had one. This is just another fun feature that has been contributing to Snapchat’s growth.  

4. In January Snapchat launched a new feature “Discover”. Snapchat Discover is a new way to explore Stories from different editorial teams.  The Discover tab can be found in the right corner of the Stories page. On this page you can find articles from favorites like CNN, Cosmo, People, ESPN, Food Network, and a few others. I think this is a smart idea for Snapchat because I’m sure these companies were fighting for this spot and pay them a lot of money for this. This advertisement for them is seen by millions of people a day. It would be stupid for publications not to want to be on this page. I personally do not take the time to read them and I know a lot of others that don’t. I do know some people that do enjoy the articles so I have to say its smart for both businesses.

5. The newest update that has everyone in frenzy is the emojis next to friends. A while back Snapchat got rid of their best friends list and users were more than upset. As of about two days ago emojis and numbers have been showing up next to our friends. The best way for me to explain it is by showing you this picture below, it will tell you all you need to know about them.  I honestly do not like the update, I think people were getting over the best friends thing and did not need this. To me it looks stupid and out of place.

What do you guys think about the newest update? 

I think Snapchat is officially a huge player in social media. To me Snapchat is not going anywhere anytime soon.