Snapchat Discover Bar on the Stories Page

The discover page on Snapchat was added a few updates ago. It is a collection of sponsored content from companies. The content ranges from articles to videos and even quizzes. Content is provided by companies such as CNN, People Magazine, ESPN, Food Network and many more. They used to be located on a page labeled ‘Discover’ but have recently made a move many snappers are not happy with. Although the page designated for the discover content is still in its original place, there is a new slide bar that contains all of the discovery content located at the top of the ‘stories’ page. This means that if you want to see the stories of your friends or whoever else you may follow, you have to look underneath the discover content bar. There is also another bar that contains featured stories from events and locations all around the world. These have already been on the stories page; but they would have been mixed in. Now they have a scroll bar at the top below the discover scroll bar. This is a small change that has caused a huge uproar in the snapchat world. Users are very unhappy with the change and want the change to be fixed. Personally, I don’t mind the change because it isn’t that big of a deal to look two rows below to see stories. The real issue is that snapchat is allowing their sponsored content to be put into the users feeds. This could be the first sign that snapchat is going to flood the service with paid advertising. Or, it could be the only move they make. We will never know. If you are wondering why snapchat is placing these ads and sponsored content in the first place, the answer is simple; money. When the discover page was first created it was a way for snapchat to make money off of the companies sponsored there without cluttering users feeds. The companies that are sponsored have paid a lot of money to be sponsored on the page. Snapchat of course is happy to take their money in exchange for an extra page on their app. Now that snapchat has moved the sponsored content into a higher traffic area of their app, they can charge even more for it. It is just like advertising on billboards. The billboard in Times Square is going to have a higher price tag than the billboard out in Montana. Since more eyeballs will look at the stories page than the discover page, snapchat decided to move them their so that they can make more money. Let’s just hope that they don’t get too carried away with advertising. It could get so bad that you will have to watch a five second ad before each snap you open. Don’t worry though because it isn’t that bad yet, but it could come.