Snapchat gives an unfiltered look at shock and aftermath of Las Vegas shooting
A lone gunman fired into a crowd of people in Las Vegas on Sunday—and the crisis is still reverberating on Snapchat.
User-submitted Snaps, curated by Snapchat editors, provided an on-the-ground look at the raw emotions in the midst of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history like no other platform or media outlet.
The story, which could still be viewed as of Monday afternoon, contained a variety of scenes of people in the midst of the chaos. Snapchat placed a "WARNING" label ahead of what it described as graphic content. If users have the sound on when watching these snaps, they'll hear gunshots and screaming.
"Run, run, run, go!" someone says.
"Don't move," a man says in another snap. A few seconds later, two blonde women begin to run.
Two women in a different snap speak to her own camera saying where they are. "We're okay," she says as she wipes away tears from her cheeks.
Snapchat users can either pinch into the camera screen to access the app's Snap Maps feature and zoom in on Las Vegas, navigate to the Our Story within Discover, or type Las Vegas in the top search bar. Each of these navigation options provide access to a curated selection of videos from the scene and the aftermath.
Some Snapchat users have the camera pointed at themselves as they hide from cover. Other users are pointing at the police nearby.
Snapchat's footage of the Las Vegas shooting is raw and exclusive. But the act of curating snaps during breaking news events, even tragedies, is not rare to Snap. The company compiled one of its first breaking news feeds following the shooting in San Bernardino in December 2015.
Snapchat has done the same for the battle of Mosul, and more recently, during Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Snap has its own team of journalists who vet footage that is delivered by users to Snapchat's servers, and they also add context to the videos.
The company also recruits reporters on the ground to send in snaps. For example, NBC News journalist Joe Fryer sent in a snap from inside Mandalay Bay on Monday.
This type of news coverage is a big bet for Snap. While Facebook and Twitter both battle a reputation for fake news and ties to Russian-linked ads during the 2016 election, Snapchat continues to solidify its role in breaking news.
Topics Snapchat Social Media
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
