If you haven’t heard Snapchat released a nifty new feature.
Introducing, Snap Maps.
The feature allows you to share your location with all friends, some or none of them, as well as what you’re up too if you’ve shared a story at the location.
In a nutshell, apart from the ability to see, (i.e. “stalk”) your friends, it’s a more visual alternative to a location hashtag on Instagram. Instead of typing in a location, just navigate to the region interested and you can see all subsequent stories.
So, from how to use it (or not) and everything in between, here are 8 things you should know about the feature…
1. How do you access it? Simply pinch or make the zoom out touch motion on the opening screen
2. The locations can get pretty specific. Even revealing the street you’re on, hence the concern
3. The app shares your location every time you log-in
4. It automatically goes ‘Ghost Mode’ (hidden) if you’re logged out for more than two hours
5. How do you go to Ghost mode? Click on the top right wheel icon, and select it from the options. You can choose whether to share your location all your friends or a select few
6. This one’s a Given, but the feature won’t work unless you have your location sharing on
7. Click on heatspots on the map to see various stories shared in the area. While stories shared in a location can be viewed by any and everyone, user details won’t be shown
8. The function isn’t a 100% proprietary and is actually based on the acquisition of social mapping startup Zenly for $250 to $350 million dollars late last month. Similar to Facebook & Instagram, Zenly will run independently as well.
What do you think? Will you embrace Snapchat’s “new way to explore the world’’ or will you stay “Ghost”?
As you can see from the terrible like/dislike ratio on the video, reception to the feature of this app has been ‘mixed’ to say the least.
Part of the reason is due to privacy concerns raised, with Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) warning users in the region of the potential dangers of revealing your location.
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What are your thoughts on Snapmaps? Let us know in the comments below.