Snapchat Update – Is it Bad? (Yes)

February 14, 2018

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Is Snapchat what it used to be?

The newest update of Snapchat has triggered millions of user not only in the United States but across all social platforms around the world.

Snapchat decided that it would be a good idea to completely change the new design of its software and many are wondering, “What the heck Snapchat?”

Basically, the new update has completely taken away the Snapchat Stories, which were where all the videos and photos were shared among Snapchat users. Now, stories appear together with individual Snaps and direct messages and this has caused outrage among the masses. What used to be the Snapchat stories is now just entirely the Discovery Page.

This is one of the biggest updates Snapchat has done and it is also one of their most hated so far. Snapchat through this update has lost much of what it used to be and it has continued to do so after they took away the ability to see the user’s best friends through the person’s profile and by also adding the Discover Page. Slowly it seems Snapchat is moving away from its original design and adding new features that nobody’s asking for.

The Petition:

There is a petition online for the removal of the update. The petition was authorized by Australian user Nic Rumsey. Incredibly, in less than a couple of days, the petition has already 800,000 signatures and only needs 200,000 more to achieve the targeted goal of a million signatures. A million signatures are needed to help convince Snapchat Inc. to change the app to what it used to be.

According to the petition, “Many users have found that the update has not made the app easier to use but has, in fact, made many features more difficult.” There is “a general level of annoyance among users and many have decided to use a VPN app to go back to the old Snapchat, as that’s how annoying this new update has become.”

https://www.change.org/p/snap-inc-remove-the-new-snapchat-update

What We have to say:

Many of our students have had mixed feelings about the current update. Some students simply don’t care, some deeply hate it, and some actually think it was a good update.

Gerard Gonzalez ’18 had this to say, “Snapchat users are bothered by it because it has stories and direct snaps in the same place. So people who don’t normally snap show up at the top of our list.”

Michael Miramontes ’18 said that “the app confused the crap out of me. I want separate sections for stories and incoming Snapchats and it is now confusing to distinguish between stories and friends.”

Tim Tighe ’18 says that “Snapchat sold out. You can tell it’s all about the money now.”

Another senior, Connor Thomas, had a lot to say about what Snap. Inc is trying to do with the app. He started by saying that “The friends’ page is busy and hard to read, but other than that it works well. I think it will grow on people with some tweaks to the overall layout and size of fonts and icons and things.”

Manipulating its Users:

Connor said that “the newly updated discover page was an example of what is going on right now with social media.”

“The Discover Page is an example of how social media has gone in the wrong direction recently. Snap Inc has to compete with the likes of Facebook in the world of social media. Facebook has done a good job of grabbing its users and trapping them on the app by making such an all-encompassing service. When users are on Facebook, they are not on Snapchat giving Snap Inc the ad revenue it needs to sustain itself.”

Snapchat is becoming something it really should not be. The Discover Page with its new awful layout is intentionally set up to encourage users to keep scrolling on and on to find what they want. Snapchat’s Discover Page has become very much so like Instagram’s explore page.

Snapchat, the app, has become incredibly commercialized and modified in the last few years. The Discover Page puts out clickbait headlines or pictures of controversial celebrity occurrences so the user clicks to see it. Snapchat originally was simply meant to share stories, not become a platform for Kim Kardashian and her outfits.

Connor added by saying, “Snapchat used to be an app for the purpose of sharing pictures with friends. Now, it is an app that tries to exploit you everytime you open it.”

Another viewpoint:

Rutherford Allison ’19 said he actually liked the update. “You can add multiple text boxes to one snap, and it sends people who you’re about to lose a streak with the top of your friends’ page.”

“I do not understand why some people think that the friends’ page is clustered, but I don’t see it as too much of an issue.”