The first thing everyone does when they arrive at a new place is check if the location has a Snapchat Geotag. When Geotags were first created last summer, they were only available in a few big cities like New York and Los Angeles. But recently, Geotags can be found in almost every city and town. Port Washington just acquired two Geotags of its own. Senior Caroline Waldman created the rainbow colored Geotag and Waldman’s friend Will Badot of Kingston, Massachusetts the other.
“Before Geotags, I was getting bored of just sending pictures of myself to friends. Now with the new Geotags, I am able to share my location with my friends in a Geotag can also be found in almost every airport as well. Certain events have their own Geotag-like features as well, such as Mother’s Day, Earth Day, the blizzard Juno, the Oscars, Halloween, and many more.
Most colleges, including Tulane University, Syracuse University, the University of Maryland, and the George Washington University, also have Geotags.
Anyone can design a Snapchat Geotag and submit it for their town, although it may take a while to get a response from the company.
Last year, Snapchat also introduced the ability to make a Snapchat story. This year, Snapchat has taken it one step further with the new Snapchat Live feature. Snapchat Live allows Snapchat users to see certain events secondhand that they would normally not be able to see. Stories are collections of snaps from users at events like the Boston Marathon, the Oscars, Election Day in England, Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and many more. Certain Snapchat stories are available in certain locations 24/7, such as the New York City Snapchat Live story, but only if you have been in that location recently.
Snapchat Live also has a story for a different place in the world every day that you are only able to see for 24 hours, in addition to the special event stories. Some of these places featured have included Warsaw, Saudi Arabia, and Las Vegas. Although many would say that it’s interesting to experience other people’s cultures from the comfort of your own home, some students get annoyed with the constant stories.
“I don’t care about what is going on around the world,” said junior Jenna Hecht. “I like to live my life in the present.”
Snapchat Live is a good way to advertise as well. There are ads for upcoming movies and many brands within public Snapchat Live stories. Snapchat has recently signed a deal with Major League Baseball (MLB), and every Wednesday there will be a collection of Snapchats from MLB games throughout America. Many people may not like this because Snapchat is becoming more of an advertising service than a fun way to send pictures to your friends and show the people on your friends list what you are doing
However, people who are baseball fans and cannot go to games or watch games on TV may love this new feature because it will allow them to see what is happening at the games in a quick and easy way. Another fantastic feature that Snapchat has recently introduced is Snapchat Discover. Snapchat, through its partnership with various big name companies such as People magazine, the Food Network, and CNN, provides its users with an easy way to read their favorite magazines’ top daily articles, check in on the news, or discover a cool new recipe with just a few swipes. There is no doubt that Snapchat is pushing into a whole new world of social media that no other app has tapped into.