Some of you guys may have heard of or seen the new feature that came out with the latest update of Snapchat, the discover feature. At first glance, this new trick seems convenient and cool. You get the latest news from reputable news sources like CNN, plus gossip about celebrities from sources like People Magazine and Cosmopolitan. It’s great! You can check today’s news while staying updated with selfies from your friends. Could this be the future of news distribution?
Currently, there are 12 companies to choose from, including a Snapchat option. There seems to be a wide spread of options for a variety of interests, such as the Food Channel, National Geographic, and ESPN. Although these options may be great for a diversity of interests, the individual companies don’t provide lots of options to choose from. Each of the brands have about 5 to 6 stories that refresh daily. However, who gets to decide which 5 or 6 stories get posted? Something that may be interesting to me may not be interesting to the person sitting next to me. Plus, there is no link on the app that will direct me to their website. What happens if I’m not interested in the stories that are posted, but I want to see what else is going on in the world? A link or button that I could click on would be very helpful. Granted, it probably would not be difficult to find the CNN website on a web browser. But what happens if I see a short snippet of a news report and I want to see more? There is no link or button I can click on that will bring me to the full story. This feature would add to the convenience of the app.
If you’re a news junkie, you’ll be okay with any type of news you can get. It will be interesting to see if Snapchat does anything to modify or change this service. That being said, I find it to be a good place to catch up on celebrity gossip and watch sports highlights.
See the article talking about Snapchat as a news source here.