Snapchat has taken its Snap Maps feature and made it available online. Like in the app's version of the feature, Stories from different parts of the world can be seen. In New York, Stories from New York Fashion Week can be seen at the moment.
Snapchat continues to make more features available online as Instagram keeps adopting its more popular features.
Snap Maps Online
Instead of just being able to see the Stories on the map, the stories can be embedded onto websites to share. A portion of the map can also be embedded into websites. There is no option to sign in at the moment, so a friend's locations and their stories can't be seen on the map.
Map Stories are created through the use of an algorithm. It gathers various stories from the same location.
Snapchat is slowly making its way online as it tries to grow its user base. To a certain extent, Snapchat was successful. It grew more and beat analyst expectations as revenue and user growth caused its stock to rise.
Snapchat credits a recent redesign that was created to appeal to older users. There has been a backlash to the new design.
Redesign Backlash
There were reports that Snapchat's new redesign was going poorly. There has been a ton of negative reaction to the redesign. From influencers such as Kylie Jenner, celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, to regular people who are tweeting against it and signing petitions to revert to the previous look, it seems nobody likes the change.
Snapchat does like the change and is telling users that it's driving more user engagement. Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel says that this change is to help creators get more visibility on the app. This new design combines the Stories and Messages section into one place. Criticisms are that it is now harder to send a snap, to rewatch Stories, and the Discover page has been replaced.
Spiegel believes that the redesign is helping the app, saying it is simpler than the old design.
"We believe that the redesign has also made our application simpler and easier to use, especially for older users," said Spiegel in a letter to investors. "Compared to the old design, core metrics around content consumption and time spent in the redesigned application are disproportionately higher for users over the age of 35, which bodes well for increasing engagement among older users as we continue to grow our business."
