The world’s most talked about events can now be the world’s most accessible with Snapchat’s Our Story. The feature allows people at a specific event to contribute 10-second video clips or pictures to a curated story that appears on every user’s screen. Similar to the My Story feature, users can only access the media for 24 hours. Whether sharing backstage footage or a celebrity sighting, Our Story allows people to experience the most posh events virtually.
Our Story was first introduced at Electric Daisy Carnival in June. Then, spectators in Brazil contributed to the World Cup Our Story. This week, attendees at New York Fashion Week and Apple’s product launch in Cupertino had an opportunity to send snaps to the live feed. Despite this list of trendy occasions, Snapchat will likely need to expand its event list for more consistent postings. Last Saturday, the University of Oregon boasted an Our Story and a unique geofilter for the football game against Michigan State. These stories appear under a separate “Live” category, below “Recent Updates”, on the “My Friends” page.
With countless social media platforms and apps vying for people’s attention, Snapchat understands the necessity to grow beyond its photo disappearing capabilities. By updating and reinventing the the app, Snapchat interests users while staying newsworthy. In addition to the Our Story feature, Snapchat introduced geofilters this summer: location-specific filters with an artistic font that embodies the respective area. Snapchat also included a chat feature in May that can transfer to a video chat at any moment as long as both users are online.
Snapchat continues to distinguish itself as a competitive social media platform. It will be interesting to see how Our Story will range in terms of the events covered. Additionally, widespread geofilters will probably be steadily introduced. Advertising will undoubtedly follow, perhaps with companies contributing to Our Story for product placement or branding purposes. Some brands, like Taco Bell, even have their own accounts that users can follow. Others, like Disneyland, have their own geofilters. Snapchat can also please users by partnering with celebrities at events like the Emmys and VMAs to contribute unique footage to an Our Story.
What would you like to see Snapchat do next? Snapchat has churned out multiple new featured this summer, will the trend continue throughout the year?