Snapchat quietly released new geofilters for nearby businesses
Snapchat is helping you more easily show off where you are and also further support local businesses.
A new geofilter, available at least in New York City Tuesday, displays the name of a nearby business with the name of the city below it in white text over snaps. You can then tap through a bunch of other nearby shops.
Nearby Mashable headquarters on Fifth Avenue, the geofilter started with Hu Kitchen and then showed Anthropologie, The Parker Gramercy and Union Fare.
The update provides another engaging experience on Snapchat for any user and comes on the same day that the app introduced several major product changes.
Such an experience is available on Instagram Stories, Facebook's copycat version of Snapchat Stories. Instagram users can click on the "Location" button and then see a list of nearby locations, which similarly is created into a sticker on the photo or video.
Snapchat's version of the feature is far more curated. Snapchat pulls its location data from Foursquare, but it is unclear why the list is limited.
Snapchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment on where these geofilters are available and whether the businesses shown need to pay, as they would for a uniquely designed on-demand geofilter.
Topics Snapchat
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.
