A new update for Snapchat that just rolled out adds an option to create Snapchat Stories, a new type of sharing for the temporary social network which allows users to build chains of shared content that can be viewed an unlimited number of times over a 24-hour period. The Stories are shared to all your friends at once, and each piece of content added itself lasts for a full day before disappearing.
This is probably the sort of ‘timeline’ equivalent Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel hinted at when he was discussing Snapchat’s future on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in September. It manages to build a more lasting narrative, which provides much better opportunities for brand use in terms of doing things like advertisements, offers and marketing campaigns, too.
To introduce the new Stories feature, Snapchat has also debuted a number of new commercials that advertise the feature, in partnership with bands and musicians. These represent an effort on the part of the company to do more direct marketing, something it hasn’t really embraced in the past.
Altogether, while these definitely offer new tools that Snapchat users could find valuable (while keeping the basic Snapchat style temporary sharing intact, you’ll note), this push definitely seems aimed at turning the startup into something resembling a more viable longterm business. Already, businesses were using Snapchat to push out coupons that expire almost instantly and must be collected and redeemed in rapid succession – the 24 hour clock on Stories content sets the stage to give them something more to hang their hats on.
Developing…
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