Snapchat's latest update, a redesign of its Live Stories and Discover sections, goes a long way toward making the app more intuitive and bringing in more viewership.
First, the wall dividing the two sections has been knocked down. Now you will see both Discover (a select group of content publishers such as ESPN, Comedy Central, Buzzfeed and more) and Live Stories (compilations of user snaps from events and locations, curated by Snapchat) intermingled in panels on the Discover page, as well as in a carousel at the top of the Stories page.
Second, the design is far more informative. Whereas previously you would click on, for instance, the National Geographic logo on the Discover page without knowing what viewing experience you'd be in for, now each panel includes a headline and an image from the story (On June 9: "New Peacock Spiders Will Rock Your World").
As if that's not enough to make Discover publishers happy, a bonus: Simply pressing down (i.e. touching the screen and holding your finger there for a second) on a panel brings up the option to subscribe to that channel. A possible downside: The previous Discover screen made almost all the publishers visible in a single group of colorful bubbles. Now it takes a bit of scrolling to get to the bottom of the screen, hiding away some publishers from a prominent place.
This bid to get more eyeballs on Live and Discover stories is tied to monetization. Snapchat sells ads within these stories, and, it was reported earlier this year, was having trouble justifying some extremely high prices for them.
So it seems the update is good for users, publishers and advertisers alike. Communicators, take note: Updates like this serve to widen Snapchat's user base, as even older people who don't have friends using the platform will have plenty of content to watch without hunting for it.
To learn about communicating on Snapchat, don't miss PR News' Snapchat Boot Camp, July 12 at the Yale Club in NYC.
Follow Ian on Twitter: @ianwright0101