The recently-held Snap Partner Summit reveals that Snapchat has reached over 600 million active users globally. Snap’s also introducing new AR tools to the platform, including an entire ensemble of editing tools under the new Director Mode.
This Partner Summit was probably a heave of relief for many of the investors that have their funds tied up with the platform. With all the various social media outlets out there, it’s easy to forget that Snapchat is not only a major competing force in the industry, but also the pioneer of some of its staples. Stories and many of the AR features that we associate with TikTok or Instagram can all be traced back to Snapchat. The platform’s parent company Snap has always been particularly keen on developing new and new technological applications for alternate reality, whether it be for Snaps, Spotlights, or its real-life endeavors such as the company’s Spectacles. At any rate, with 600 million users and 332 million daily active users worldwide, it’s clear that audiences and consumers are responding to the platform’s innovations and less-than conventional approach to social media.
Apparently, this is also why the Partner Summit led to the revelation of Snap doubling down on its features, choosing to build an entire new studio’s worth of special effects and camera tweaks that users can play around with. Labeled “Director Mode”, Snap really wants to let its userbase get as creative as they can with whatever content they choose to make. The new list of features being introduced to this new mode include a dedicated green-screen, supplemented with Snapchat’s massive library of lenses and whatnot. There are also new camera tricks that one can employ while filming; one these allows users to film with their front and back camera simultaneously, evoking the old Frontback app that’s sadly been lost to time.
While all of this is good news, Snap’s also introduced some bad news to the community in the Summit. Well, bad news is a relative term here, since this does benefit investors and partners. Snap will now be playing mid-roll ads on Snapchat, which will work very similarly to Instagram’s advertisements. One can easily scroll past them, and most of them resemble actual posts from the platform, but they still invite a very annoying break from one’s surfing.
Read next: Snap Introduces Flying Camera That Takes Pictures And Videos While Following Users Around
This Partner Summit was probably a heave of relief for many of the investors that have their funds tied up with the platform. With all the various social media outlets out there, it’s easy to forget that Snapchat is not only a major competing force in the industry, but also the pioneer of some of its staples. Stories and many of the AR features that we associate with TikTok or Instagram can all be traced back to Snapchat. The platform’s parent company Snap has always been particularly keen on developing new and new technological applications for alternate reality, whether it be for Snaps, Spotlights, or its real-life endeavors such as the company’s Spectacles. At any rate, with 600 million users and 332 million daily active users worldwide, it’s clear that audiences and consumers are responding to the platform’s innovations and less-than conventional approach to social media.
Apparently, this is also why the Partner Summit led to the revelation of Snap doubling down on its features, choosing to build an entire new studio’s worth of special effects and camera tweaks that users can play around with. Labeled “Director Mode”, Snap really wants to let its userbase get as creative as they can with whatever content they choose to make. The new list of features being introduced to this new mode include a dedicated green-screen, supplemented with Snapchat’s massive library of lenses and whatnot. There are also new camera tricks that one can employ while filming; one these allows users to film with their front and back camera simultaneously, evoking the old Frontback app that’s sadly been lost to time.
While all of this is good news, Snap’s also introduced some bad news to the community in the Summit. Well, bad news is a relative term here, since this does benefit investors and partners. Snap will now be playing mid-roll ads on Snapchat, which will work very similarly to Instagram’s advertisements. One can easily scroll past them, and most of them resemble actual posts from the platform, but they still invite a very annoying break from one’s surfing.
Read next: Snap Introduces Flying Camera That Takes Pictures And Videos While Following Users Around