The Snapchat Update: Its Bad

I mostly think of Snapchat as a personal messenger, so it doesn’t usually fall into my purview, but many brands do use it and the new update is so bad!

Here’s why:

WE JUST WANT STUFF IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, GOOD GOD

It seems like just about every platform has now adopted an algorithm to predict what you most want to see, so it can show you the most “relevant” content. I don’t know anyone who likes this approach. Most of us just want to see things in the order they were posted.

Snapchat has taken this to a weird extreme, piling all your personal conversations and your contacts’ public stories into one tab that is not chronologically ordered.

For me, this has meant people I never talk to popping up in the top of my queue, because Snapchat thinks I’m more interested in seeing acquaintances’ stories (“lol back on my grind 🤑”) than sending a message to a close friend.

NUMBER OF EYES ON BRANDED CONTENT IS GOING TO PLUMMET

Before the update, I had reason to stumble on content from Snapchat’s brand partners because it was located in the same tab as my friends’ public stories. Now that the two are completely separate, I have no reason to click over the branded content tab.

I don’t think of Snapchat as a main purveyor of news and entertainment. I go elsewhere for that. Even though brands have actually made some pretty interesting Snapchat-exclusive content, I was mostly exposed to it through idle curiosity when looking at my friends’ stories. Now there’s almost no chance for me to see branded content, even by accident.

IT’S UGLY. IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU.

Snapshat’s messaging tab used to be sleek and easy to use. Now you’re bombarded with Bitmoji avatars, story previews, and multi colored silhouettes. It’s bad... to look at.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Opinion on the update has been universally critical (it’s not just me, even though I relish any opportunity to be mean to an app). It goes beyond consumers being resistant to change. People are even inventing workarounds to revert their app to the way it was!

It’s not enough to make me stop using Snapchat, but what a weird series of moves they’ve made.

❤ Bayley​​​​