Snapchat App New Updates and Features: Big Revamp Set to Launch on Dec. 4
Snap, Inc. is throwing all its chips in a big redesign gamble that would, if successful, make the Snapchat app easier to use. The huge revamp will launch as early as Dec. 4 and could feature content streams similar to those seen on Facebook.
Snapchat's main distinguishing feature, the way it opens to the phone's camera, will remain unchanged, according to a source familiar with the Snap CEO Evan Spiegel's recent earnings call with investors.
Snap employees were also notified via internal communications that the remake of the Snapchat App is due to launch on Dec. 4 this year, according to the same source via Business Insider.
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Spiegel also hinted that the new app will add a feed system for showing content, and it could be similar to how Facebook does it with their news feed. It's not yet clear how the new app will organize the entries, but a few hints give a clearer picture of their plan for the new Snapchat app.
Direct messages from friends will no longer be kept in their own "Chat" section on the left side of the screen, with the "Stories" stream on the right. Instead, the two streams from Snapchat's own social network will be merged into a widget on the left side of the display, as Gizmodo explains it.
While the left side looks to be reserved for the user's own connections, the right side will feature content from more public sources. Videos posted for public viewing by other users, like those from sports events and concerts, will form part of a stream called "Our Stories" that will take up the right side of the camera view.
"Our Stories" will also include content from Snapchat partners like NBC and BuzzFeed, and could be tweaked using special algorithms to customize the feed to the interest of users. Along with public videos from verified celebrities, this new design was pitched as "democratization of content," according to a source.
These drastic changes come in the wake of Snap Inc.'s disastrous post-IPO performance, when the company value tanked by as much as 20 percent after their earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 7. This new update could be their lifeline coming into 2018.
