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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Political cartoons for December 20Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include drowning rats, the ACA, and more
-
5 fairly vain cartoons about Vanity Fair’s interviews with Susie WilesCartoon Artists take on demolition derby, alcoholic personality, and more
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
