When Snapchat first introduced the Discover feature on its app, a big question many had was how it would fit in with the social experience. Well, that question has now been answered.
The company recently unveiled a new feature that will see users being able to snap content that they find interesting over to their friends.
Snapchat announced the new feature via Discover itself, and will be rolling it out to both iOS and Android in the near future. The news comes only a day after Snapchat announced an initiative to bring together its different products, stating that users would be able to download vector versions of their QR codes that other users can scan to instantly follow them.
The news also comes soon after reports suggesting that the Discover feature was being viewed far less than its release in January. While a dip in viewership is to be expected, reports suggest that viewership is down up to 50 percent. One publisher reported that while it had a viewership of 1 million users per day in January, it only now receives around 700,000 views per day, with trends suggesting that the dip would continue. Considering the fact that Snapchat may have up to 100 million users; that 700,000 figure isn't so good.
Going forward Snapchat needed to find something in order to grow the Discover model, and allowing users to snap Discover stories might just be the right solution. Not only will it expose particular stories to users, but it will also likely remind users that the Discover section exists.
Snapchat already must be commended for the way in which it is going about advertising. Instead of including rather intrusive ads, the company introduced Discover, allowing content providers to put together snippets of content for users to enjoy. This content is available for users to look at whenever they want, however they have to actively seek the content rather than have it show up when they don't want it.
The new feature could initiate an era where users don't simply look at content, but they also interact with it. It would be easy to imagine users being able to follow through and purchase items or subscriptions based on content that they received from their friends advertising certain products.
The next update to Snapchat will also allow users to zoom while recording content. During recording, users can swipe right to zoom in and swipe left to zoom out.
