Self-appointed social media spies who rely on Snapchat to find out whom their object of desire is sending snaps to have snapped at the removal of the app’s “best friends” feature.
Some of Snapchat’s audience has openly expressed opposition on Twitter — so much so that Snapchat plans to bring the feature back.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel tweeted on Jan. 27, “We’ll bring back BFs soon. A few higher-profile friends wanted to keep their usernames private — we’ll come up with a better way to do that.”
Daniella Vazquez, a 19-year-old UF sociology freshman, is among those who have voiced discontent with the update.
“Guys may not like this, but sometimes you have to check up on your guy to make sure he’s not snapping other girls,” Vazquez said.
Others students, like Franchesco Casadidio, a 22-year-old UF finance senior, embraced the temporary change and said the feature “added unnecessary drama to one’s life.”
While its users await the return of “best friends,” Snapchat has introduced a new way to diversify and appeal to a larger audience.
With “discover,” users can receive the latest news on CNN, follow sports on ESPN and keep up with their favorite celebrities on People. The new feature invites those who aren’t primarily interested in the communicating aspect of the app, but instead are more interested in receiving news through an innovative platform.
“They definitely are connected to some very big players now when it comes to the media,” said 36-year-old Andrew Selepak, the director of UF’s Master of Arts in Mass Communication with a specialization in social media.
The new feature could also be the reason why Snapchat has changed its privacy settings.
“I think it’s because they (Snapchat) knew they were going to be making this big push to get big media companies or corporations involved that they decided to do it.” Selepak said. “They want to make people feel they can use it freely.”
Emma Neagu, a 19-year-old UF telecommunication junior, takes a selfie using Snapchat on Thursday morning in Weimer Hall. The app is becoming a recruiting tool.
