There's a new update to Snapchat, and so far it is looking quite brilliant, as it mixes video and texting into a single package. Mixing video and texting in a single app is not new, but it's the way Snapchat goes about doing that makes us intrigued.
The year 2014 has been quite busy for Snapchat, as at one point over 4.3 million user names were compromised by hackers. In addition, Snapchat turned down a massive $3 billion acquisition by Facebook. On the other hand, Snapchat has since surpassed Facebook in how many pictures were uploaded.
But that's not what's important right now. What's important is how the version of Snapchat allows texting inside the app for the first time. However, it is very similar to when sending a picture, as once the user leaves the chat space, the messages will disappear into limbo forever. That's not all; users will also have the option to make video calls within Snapchat, but it is not implemented in the manner you might think.
To have a video chat, just simply press and hold that little blue circular icon on the right, and jump straight into a video chat with your friends. It's as simple as that, and as soon as the finger is removed from the icon, the video chat ends.
"Swipe right on a friend's name in your Snapchat inbox to start chatting," says the Snapchat team in a blog post. "When you leave the chat screen, messages viewed by both you and your friend will be cleared - but either of you can always tap or screenshot to save anything you'd like to keep (addresses, to-do lists, etc.)!"
"We let you know when a friend is Here in your Chat so that you can give each other your full attention. And if you're both Here, simply press and hold to share live video - and Chat face-to-face!"
What Snapchat is trying to do with video calling is what we deem as innovation. This word gets thrown around on a regular basis, but rarely is it used in the correct setting. We're interested to see what else Snapchat plans to do in the future, as it comes closer to competing directly with the likes of Facebook and Google+.
