Snap has recently launched a new “Story Studio” app as a companion to Snapchat, which is currently a stand-alone platform exclusively accessible by iOS users.
Snapchat’s facing a lot of competition nowadays, which honestly feels kind of bad since much of it comes from the likes of Facebook and Instagram; platforms that actively robbed the platform of its Story and AR based features. Then again, those aren’t even the only sharks in the water. Another major current competitor comes in the form of TikTok, with its short-form videos perfectly capturing the current generation of netizens’ propensity for creating short, snappy content that immediately catches one’s attention and doesn’t drag on for too long. Instagram and its new format of videos entitled Reels is doing incredibly as well, and YouTube Shorts isn’t far behind in terms of major platform success. Essentially, all of this boils down to Snapchat having its work cut out for it, and there’s quite a lot of user involvement required to combat all of this success.
Part of that effort manifested itself in the form of a “Spotlight Challenges” creator program. Essentially, Snapchat offered its users a way of monetizing their online content on the platform through a cash prizes reward system, which was dished out to creators on the basis of the engagement and views generated. While the minimum that users can earn in a Spotlight Challenge is USD $250 (the program is currently active for any users wishing to engage with it), the average range of prizes fell somewhere between the USD $1000 to USD $25,000 markers. That’s a lot of money that content creators can make off of just putting in a bit of hard work and effort into their ten-second or so clips. It also gives the Spotlight Snaps a bit more user based buzz, allowing them to stand out amongst the admittedly heavy competition.
The next part of Snap’s efforts to remain relevant come in the form of this new Story Studio app. Of course, Snapchat has some basic editing tools built into the platform, but having one’s own dedicated space, all for the purposes of cropping up and editing content is admittedly a bit better. Story Editor also allows users a bit more freedom with their creativity, since the app has more editing tools to it than vanilla Snapchat does. Users can do more than just basic snipping and splitting: they can now add different audio bytes from their phone, can directly implement Lens Studio content, add layers to their videos, integrate closed captions, and even experiment with transitions between cuts.
It’s admittedly difficult to maintain relevancy in the fast-paced online world, but Snap seems to be trying its best.
Read next: Snap Boasts It Paid Content Creators Over USD $250 Million Across 2021
Snapchat’s facing a lot of competition nowadays, which honestly feels kind of bad since much of it comes from the likes of Facebook and Instagram; platforms that actively robbed the platform of its Story and AR based features. Then again, those aren’t even the only sharks in the water. Another major current competitor comes in the form of TikTok, with its short-form videos perfectly capturing the current generation of netizens’ propensity for creating short, snappy content that immediately catches one’s attention and doesn’t drag on for too long. Instagram and its new format of videos entitled Reels is doing incredibly as well, and YouTube Shorts isn’t far behind in terms of major platform success. Essentially, all of this boils down to Snapchat having its work cut out for it, and there’s quite a lot of user involvement required to combat all of this success.
Part of that effort manifested itself in the form of a “Spotlight Challenges” creator program. Essentially, Snapchat offered its users a way of monetizing their online content on the platform through a cash prizes reward system, which was dished out to creators on the basis of the engagement and views generated. While the minimum that users can earn in a Spotlight Challenge is USD $250 (the program is currently active for any users wishing to engage with it), the average range of prizes fell somewhere between the USD $1000 to USD $25,000 markers. That’s a lot of money that content creators can make off of just putting in a bit of hard work and effort into their ten-second or so clips. It also gives the Spotlight Snaps a bit more user based buzz, allowing them to stand out amongst the admittedly heavy competition.
The next part of Snap’s efforts to remain relevant come in the form of this new Story Studio app. Of course, Snapchat has some basic editing tools built into the platform, but having one’s own dedicated space, all for the purposes of cropping up and editing content is admittedly a bit better. Story Editor also allows users a bit more freedom with their creativity, since the app has more editing tools to it than vanilla Snapchat does. Users can do more than just basic snipping and splitting: they can now add different audio bytes from their phone, can directly implement Lens Studio content, add layers to their videos, integrate closed captions, and even experiment with transitions between cuts.
It’s admittedly difficult to maintain relevancy in the fast-paced online world, but Snap seems to be trying its best.
Read next: Snap Boasts It Paid Content Creators Over USD $250 Million Across 2021