Snapchat is becoming very much like Facebook. The company has pushed out on Tuesday the most recent update of the app adding in a new feature dubbed Birthday Party Lens – a duet of birthday party lenses for you and your pal's big day in a less boring way.
You can access one birthday-specific lens on your birthday and the other one if you wish to send a birthday greeting to your friends on their special days. A birthday cake emoji will pop up next to the usernames of your friends who are celebrating their birthdays along with the text that says "double tap to birthday snap." Once you hit the button, the camera will open, after which you can activate a birthday lens to send.
The birthday lens is a sticker with the text "Happy Birthday" plus falling confetti. You can add an image or a selfie into it. You can then post the image to your Snapchat Story or share it with your friends.
You can only enable this new functionality when you enter your birthday in the main settings of the app beneath the new birthday menu.
If you wish to get a sneak peek of the birthday-themed lens ahead of your birthday, you are allowed to modify your birth date in the settings of the app. Do note, however, that Snapchat permits you only to alter it for a limited number of times.
The latest update also brings in a tweak on Snapchat's time filter. When you tap the time, the filter will now be changed to the present date, instead of just the time.
The new feature comes hot on the heels of another functionality Snapchat rolled out to its users – the On-Demand Geofilters. These custom geofilters are the app's new revenue stream. Snapchat allows users to use custom-made geofilters for a price. Those who wish to give the on-demand geofilters a try should spend as low as $5, depending on how long the filters will go live and the amount of space they will cover.
Snapchat Encourages You To Share Your Age With It
International Business Times in its report says Snapchat is adding the Birthday Party Lens feature to encourage users to share age data.
"It all sounds like more fun and games on Snapchat, an app that is known for its popularity with millennials," it says. "[Y]et the system also encourages users to share their real birthday with Snapchat," says IBT.
It goes on to say that this data point gives essential information to marketers and advertisers who target their specific campaigns to specific ages and learn more about the messaging app's users.
“Information and data is power," says Ian Chee, the chief strategy officer of MRY, a global marketing agency. "What people need to remember is every piece of data a brand is able to attain from you is another means for them to utilize that data to target you.”
According to Snapchat's Privacy Policy, the app personalizes the services by "suggesting friends or profile information or providing advertisements, content, or features that match user profiles, interests, or previous activities.” This means it's apparent that the age data of the app's users can be shared with advertisers.
In the meantime, Neo@Ogilvy group planning director Michael Bruckstein believes that if the apps asks for users' birthdays, "it will definitely affect advertising — likely for the better."
