Snapchat seems to have hit upon a new means to chase growth, one that enables anyone to view its Stories content on a web browser. This also signals a drastic shift in Snapchat policy, that of opening up to even those who might not be its members yet.
That will be accomplished by offering a new ‘Share’ feature for Stories featured in the Discover section. Hitting that, users will be able to generate a web link that can be shared across different social circles, along with even a web browser as well.
Also, Snapchat has largely been popular among the younger generation, a categorization that the company too seemed comfortable with. However, that seems up for change as the new Share option will open up to a wider audience.
The new share option meanwhile will be available within the coming weeks via an update though those in Australia and Canada have access to the new feature already. The company is also expected to launch a redesigned version of the app within the same time as well though Australian and Canadian users already have been provided access to the new app, hence their ability to use the new share feature.
Needless to say, such an approach can also be seen to be a desperate move to hit upon the growth trajectory again. The social media company has been struggling in the face of increasing competition from the likes of Facebook-owned Instagram. Interestingly, Instagram’s recent spate of growth can also be attributed to its incorporating the Stories feature which again is a Snapchat creation.
Snapchat, however, stated users will only be able to share public content which rules out any breach of user’s privacy. That makes only Official Stories, Our Stories, and Search Stories that are eligible for sharing outside of the Snapchat app. Also, similar to the famous duration restriction to applies to these Stories on the Snapchat app, the Our Stories content will remain available for 30-day, a post which those become inaccessible.
Similarly, Official Stories will remain visible for an entire day or 24-hours, beyond which, the content simply disappears. The specific time limit till which the Stories content remains visible is one reason those are so popular though it remains to be seen if bringing those outsides of the purview of the main Snapchat app will help attract new users.
