A number of high-profile entertainment companies are already programming content for Snapchat, but for the most part it’s repurposed stories, photos, list-icles, and infographics that has seen life elsewhere in the world. However, NBC Universal seems to believe Snapchat could be a platform for exclusive original content. [More]
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Instagram Mimics Snapchat With Stories-Like Feature
By 8.2.16
Eventually, all social media/messaging apps are going to look the same. At least, that’s the impression we get following Instagram’s release of a new feature that looks an awful lot like the Snapchat’s “Stories” functionality that lets users compile photos or video for sharing on their profile. [More]
Snapchat Wants To Send You Ads By Identifying Objects In Your Selfies
By 7.18.16
Try to remember the last photo you took on Snapchat: did it include a recognizable tourist spot? Perhaps a cup of coffee? The next time you take a similar photo, you might find a handful of ad-heavy filters waiting to be applied to the scene as Snapchat recently received a patent that would allow it to use image recognition technology to send users ads and other filters related to the picture content. [More]
Snapchat Sued Over “Sexually Offensive Content” From Its Media Partners
By 7.8.16
While many people might use Snapchat just to share photos and videos with friends, there’s also an area for brands and media companies to post content, which you can see in the app’s “Discover” tab. But according to a new lawsuit against the social media company, that feature is showing minors “sexually offensive content” without warning. [More]
Snapchat “Memories” Feature Lets You Save Photos To App For Sharing Later
By 7.6.16
When it was first released, Snapchat described itself as a photo sharing site that allowed users to view or send images and videos for up to 10 seconds. While users have long been able to save photos to their phone’s camera roll, the messaging service is now allowing them store those snaps in a private archive inside the main app. [More]
Snapchat Users Will Now See Ads Between Their Friends’ Stories
By 6.14.16
Whenever a new social media company comes around, ad-free and full of vim and vigor with a select group of devoted users, it’s only a matter of time before that clubhouse for the cool kids starts opening itself up to the masses… which in turn, leads to advertisers banging on the door. Snapchat is the latest social company to join its peers in opening up that door a little wider to advertisers. [More]
Lawsuit Accuses Snapchat Of Negligence For Speed-Capturing Filter
By 4.28.16
On the list of dangerous and distracting activities you should not be doing while driving, Snapchatting behind the wheel is definitely up there, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been reminding everyone this month on social media with the #justdrive hashtag. Nevertheless, the lure of a Snapchat filter that displays your speed can prove too strong for some drivers, resulting in at least one accident.
[More]
You Can Now Opt Out Of Snapchat’s Arbitration Clause — Here’s How
By 3.30.16
Popular messaging service Snapchat has had a binding arbitration clause — which takes away a user’s right to sue the company — in its user agreement since 2014. Yesterday, Snapchat updated its terms to give users 30 days to opt out of this anti-consumer restriction on their legal rights. [More]
Snapchat Buys Bitstrips For $100M: Uniting Puking Rainbows & Cartoons Of Ourselves
By 3.25.16
Remember that brief, weird moment a few years back when your Facebook feed was suddenly full of just-ironic-enough comic strip versions of your friends? Well, now you’ll probably see that all over Snapchat, as the messaging app reportedly agreed to pay $100 million to acquire Bitstrips. [More]
Report: Snapchat Is Working On Some Kind Of Wearable Device
By 3.11.16
Right now, the very nature of Snapchat is ephemeral: an app that allows users to post or send photo and video messages that will eventually self-destruct. But the company may be moving more into the physical realm, according to a new report that says the software company is looking to expand into hardware with some kind of wearable device. [More]
Facebook Buys Photo Filter App To Compete With Snapchat’s Puking Rainbow
By 3.10.16
Your friends’ posts on Facebook are about to get a bit more cartoon-like now that the social media company has acquired selfie-altering startup Masquerade Technologies. [More]
Snapchat Employee Falls For CEO Email Scam, Reveals Some Employees’ Personal Info
By 2.29.16
Last week, we warned readers that the so-called “CEO email scam” was back (did it ever really go away?) with a tax season twist: asking employees to hand over files of employee information, such as a W-2 form. The folks at Snapchat apparently didn’t get the memo, as the photo sharing company announced that it was the victim of a phishing scam that led to ne’er-do-wells getting their hands on the personal information of some employees. [More]
Nursing Home Worker Fired For Sharing Video Of Half-Naked 93-Year-Old
By 1.19.16
A healthcare worker tasked with caring for patients at a Wisconsin assisted-living facility lost her job recently after she allegedly shot a short video of a nearly nude resident and posted it on Snapchat. [More]
Bye Bye Puking Rainbows: Snapchat Shuttering Lens Store
By 1.6.16
Two months after Snapchat opened the Lens Store to offer users the option to jazz up their self-destructing messages, the company is shutting down the venture. [More]
Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Facebook Testing Self-Destructing Messages
By 11.13.15
Facebook is reportedly trying a totally new, completely novel, never-before-seen kind of message — oh, hang on a second, Snapchat has been doing self-destructing photos and videos for a while now. But anyway, Facebook apparently wants to do that kind of thing, too. [More]
Snapchat Clarifies Privacy Policy Change, Promises It Doesn’t Store Photos Or Messages
By 11.2.15
Once again a company has taken steps to clarify its privacy policy after recent changes caused confusion and worry for its customers. Over the weekend, Snapchat reassured users that their information and photos are private, and always will be. [More]
Snapchat Now Lets Users Pay For The Ability To Replay Those Self-Destructing Messages
By 9.15.15
Snapchat, built on the premise that photos and videos sent between users would self-destruct in a matter of seconds, has allowed users the ability to replay one passage per day for nearly two years. Now, the social network is expanding that option, letting users replay as many messages as they want — so long as they’re willing to pay for it. [More]
You No Longer Need A Facebook Account To Use Facebook Messenger
By 6.24.15
Because we all needed another avenue to converse with friends and acquaintances other than actual face-to-face conversations, Facebook has opened its Messenger to people without an account on the social media network. [More]
