Snapchat redesign will include algorithmic feed, report says
Big changes are headed for Snapchat.
Yesterday, speaking during Snap's Q3 earnings call, CEO Evan Spiegel teased a major redesign, saying the company was in the midst of "redesigning our application to make it easier to use."
Now, we know a bit more about what that redesign will look like, thanks to a new report from Business Insider.
According to the publication, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the company's plans, Snap will streamline its user interface so that content from friends is separated into one section of the app, while public-facing Stories — including those from influencers — will live in a separate, dedicated, section of the app, alongside publisher content.
The latter section, which would include influencer Stories, "Our Stories," publisher content, and other publicly-available content, will reportedly be sorted algorithmically in a feed in order to surface content relevant to each user. This feed would apparently replace the current "Stories" and "Discover" sections of the app.
That would be a dramatic departure from Snapchat's current design, which has historically emphasized putting content into chronological order over everything else. Spiegel has previously criticized other social platforms for prioritizing recency and other factors over chronology.
"Most social media has all of your pictures and videos in reverse chronological order, so you see the end before you see the beginning," he said in a 2015 video. "But on Snapchat, if you're looking at a birthday party, you get to watch the birthday unfold — beginning, middle and end — which really gives it a familiar feeling because that's the way we've been telling stories forever."
That said, it sounds like the "friend" section of the app, which will live where the "Chat" section currently is in the app, will continue to surface content chronologically.
Separating all of Snapchat's public-facing content into a dedicated section would come with a number of advantages. As we've previously highlighted, some of Snapchat's most compelling content is currently hidden in Snapchat's Snap Maps and search features, which are easy to miss if you're not familiar with the app.
By breaking all of this out into an algorithmically-sorted feed, Snapchat would greatly increase the visibility of this content. It would also be a welcome move for influencers, who have long complained about not having a better relationship with the company (though there have been signs Snap has been doing more to win them back in recent weeks).
It's not clear exactly how all this would affect Snapchat's publishing partners, which currently occupy much of the prime real estate in Snapchat's Stories section (Mashable is also a Snapchat Discover partner). But it sounds like publisher content could also be subject to the algorithmic feed.
The update is currently slated to launch December 4, according to the report. A spokesperson for Snap declined to comment.
Topics Snapchat Social Media
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
