Snapchat introduces Snap Maps

The battle between Snapchat and Instagram is still going strong….

Just as we thought Snapchat were going to reintroduce ‘best friends’, they dropped the bombshell and have introduced their newest feature Snap Maps.

Snap Maps allows users to locate themselves on a map, encouraging friends to meet up in real life and share memories together. Users are given the option to share location with all their friends, selected friends or the privacy setting “ghost mode” which completely wipes your story off the map.

This new update, alongside their recent announcement of a self-serve advertising platform is a huge turning point for the platform in terms ad revenue. Once you have immersed yourself into Snapchat land, you’ll be greeted with an ActionMoji which is based on your current location and time of day – making you visibly appear on the map.

Not only can you see your surrounding areas, but landmarks, shops and restaurants are also clearly labelled on the map making geo fencing a lot more tactical. In addition to this, a heat map has been introduced which shows the areas where Snapchat activity is prominently being used in real-time.

Snapchat’s quest to bring the world together through events and local activity has reached a whole new level and it has now given users the opportunity to start trends by using the ‘Our Story’ tool – so we now have the freedom to watch live events from across the world.

Snapblog have written “We’ve built a whole new way to explore the world! See what’s happening, find your friends and get inspired to go on an adventure!”

We recently wrote about how Spectacles could be a last-ditch attempt at keeping relevant, however Snapchat, it seems may actually have a lot more up their sleeve than they first let on. It still remains to be seen whether they can claw back that awful first quarter but they’re definitely not going down without a fight.

Words by Sara Leonard.