Why is Snapchat moving into the news business?
The popular picture and video messaging mobile application Snapchat, is now a news sharing service.
The new Snapchat venture is called and it allows news agencies to post messages users can open to read news stories, according to a story from Wired. To start, Discover will partner with ten media companies including CNN, VICE, Comedy Central, ESPN, and National Geographic, among others.
Snapchat creator, Evan Spiegel has long possessed a highly coveted audience. According a Wall Street Journal blog from August, consultants hired to evaluate the app鈥檚 users discovered Snapchat had over using the app monthly. Most of these users are between the , according to the International Business Times.
By launching Discover, the app鈥檚 creators saw an opportunity to present news in a different format to an audience that a large amount of traditional news, according to CNBC.
鈥淲e鈥檙e always seeking out new audiences and advertisers, and it鈥檚 more important than ever to tailor content to suit the platform,鈥� Andrew Morse, senior vice president and general manager of CNN Digital, said in a .听 with traditional news sources and have them tailor their content to Snapchat鈥檚 platform.
In the social media world, Mr. Spiegel claimed, traditional news providers were forced to use their traditional news to compete with popular trending content. With Discovery, editors and producer choose what content Snapchat provides to users.
The Snapchat team stated their commitment to letting editorial teams find the most compelling stories to 鈥榮nappers鈥� on the company鈥檚 website.
鈥淸Discover] is the result of collaboration with world-class leaders in media to build a storytelling format that puts the narrative first,鈥� the team wrote on their . 鈥淪ocial media companies tell us what to read based on what鈥檚 most recent or most popular. We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what鈥檚 important.鈥�
Snapchat has previously had relationships with companies like McDonald's, who use their platform to send advertisements to users, sending messages to users' inboxes 鈥� the place where they usually receive messages from friends.
The only remaining question is if users will get at seeing news blurbs from CNN or VICE in a space they are used to interacting mainly with friends.
