Snapchat separates social from media in its biggest redesign yet
Snapchat is getting its biggest makeover yet, and it looks ... a lot like every other social media feed out there.
In a redesign preview unveiled Wednesday, Snapchat showed off a new algorithm-driven feed that puts users' closest friends and most-watched media partners first. Private messages and Stories from friends all live on one page to the left of the camera; the Discover page, full of professional media content, is to the right. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel called this strategy "separating social from media" in an Axios post Wednesday.
Tech news outlets tie the redesign to Snapchat's slow user growth compared to competitors such as Facebook. TechCrunch even compared the redesign to Instagram's universally hated algorithm feed.
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But unlike those competitors, Snapchat approves every piece of professional content that appears on the Discover page — something that could, just maybe, protect it from the plague of fake news that's infected Facebook.
Some users will be able to preview the redesign in the next few days, but everyone will get the update next week. You can hear Spiegel break down Snap's reasoning behind the switch below. Kathryn Krawczyk
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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