January 31, 2019
Rumour has it that due to the financial pickle Snap has found itself in, the company is toying with the idea of making public Snaps last much longer before disappearing, or *shock horror* even become permanent.
Posts shared to the “Our Story” feed originally lasted 24 hours, the same as private posts, but have already expanded to last for 90 days. These public posts are visible to any user on the platform and can also be embedded online. But extending the posts lifespan isn’t the only change Snap is “allegedly” looking to bring to the app. The company is looking at ways to reveal the identity behind the person sharing a public post. This comes as a response to concerns from news organisations looking to verify the identities of the people posting public snaps.
These changes could make the recent option to embed posts perhaps a bit more appealing. If more users embedded Snaps in blogs, news articles, other social channels, and elsewhere online, this would of course provide the company with new advertising opportunities. And if posts aren’t just disappearing once of a sudden, advertisers might actually gain interest.
Luring in publishers to use public snaps could certainly help with ad revenue. It could also increase Snap’s visibility and make it more relevant when newsworthy events happen, much the same way that news organisations often rely on content from Facebook and Twitter.
But if these ideas do get implemented, the app will be moving even further away from its initial concept. A major update last year received so much criticism by its users, Snap was forced to revert to the old design.