Snapchat's Bet On Content: The Launch of Discover

With the launch of Discover, Snapchat is poised to become a key player in the way we consume media by making doing so more experiential than ever. Yet, in a world where we discover and share our news across social platforms through our communities—it is betting on content alone being enough of a draw.

From Snapchat, "We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important."

The storytelling platform launched Tuesday with CNN, Comedy Central, Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, ESPN, Food Network, National Geographic, People, Vice, Yahoo! News and Warner Music Group. Content creators can publish fully developed videos, articles, recipes, full screen photos—all with interactive functionality, spanning multiple screens (or scrolls/swipes). While doodles are nowhere to be found, the content posted will expire after 24 hours, replaced daily with fresh news.

It's compelling on many levels. “This is not social media,” the announcement reads, “All too often, artists are forced to accommodate new technologies in order to distribute their work. This time we built the technology to serve the art.

In a world where 'content is king,' there is a lot of potential for this addition to the platform. But, can it survive in the format it currently lives in knowing 50% of social networking users share or repost news stories, images or videos? I read through each of the pieces of content on the Discover page and was struck that I could not share any of them on—including the multiple screen-long recipes and videos. Not through other platforms (understandably, sure), or even through snaps.

Snapchat is a place people go to have connections—initially to send disappearing messages back and forth, but increasingly, to be apart of something bigger than themselves. To witness live events happening across the country and the world. To take part in scavenger hunts and contests. So, it's surprising, and almost off brand for Snapchat to deliver such an isolating experience.

It says the reasoning behind this is, "Social media companies tell us what to read based on what’s most recent or most popular. We see it differently. We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important."

Is it enough for people to be 'presented' with what to read by Snapchat and its partners, versus finding and discovering news through their friends and communities in ways other platforms allow? Or, will the novelty of the democratic nature of the process be a hit with users: everyone (at least for now) is provided the same 11 media sources, and thus content daily. So, will Snapchatters just seek out their own ways to talk about the content—snapping their friends outside of the Discover section to say "did you see NatGeo's baby sloth video?" or "Hey, let's try that recipe for hot pink butter icing?"

It's a big bet for Snapchat to ask users not only to rethink the platform, and what they might talk about on it—but also how they interact and consume news. With advertising already baked into the platform, the payoff could be huge.