It is very likely that, by now, you already know what Snapchat is and what it consists of, that popular mobile application that everyone was talking about a few years ago. It is an app developed by Stanford students that, at first, allowed the sending of videos and photos that disappeared after a few seconds.
Later, with the arrival of filters in photographs and videos, we could say that it contributed greatly to democratize the selfie, later adding a large number of functions, including the ability to exchange messages through chats.
But its uses go much further. Thanks to the camera of our smartphone, we can take pictures or videos of our surroundings, or take a selfie, and add a huge amount of visual elements with which to decorate them, such as filters, texts or emojis.
In addition, chat is one of the most used functions, since it offers us the possibility of chatting with our contacts and sharing photos, videos or voice notes. But creating stories becomes another useful feature as well.
Now, after learning that in the month of March the application has reached the figure of 125 million users, the brand has presented Spotlight , with which it intends to face the large increase in users achieved by TikTok over the past year, when the coronavirus pandemic “forced” us to confine ourselves at home for many months, which influenced the increase in the use of entertainment applications.
What exactly is Spotlight? What does it consist of?
We could assimilate this new functionality to others already presented and developed by the competition, such as TikTok or the popular Instagram Reels.
Spotlight consists of a function that gathers the short videos (snaps) of the community in a single place , and can be customized by snapfan over time, based on your preferences and favorite content. But the system will automatically learn the tastes of each of the users, which means that it will learn what to show each person based on those tastes.
But what are snapfans? As defined by the company itself, it is the users of this section who are within Snapchat, being able to share their creations widely.
It is estimated that, every day, more than 4 billion Snaps are created , which is why, according to a statement released by the company, “empowers the community to express themselves and reach a large audience in a new way.” .
Of course, the content of Spotlight is moderated, not allowing public comments . In addition, the Snaps that are sent must respect the content standards in order to be later distributed.
However, we must remember something essential: Snapfans must be over 16 years of age . And, as regards the Snap incentive program (the money that content creators receive, and which will soon be available in our country), they must have parental consent to earn money.
