Major update alert! Back in January, we shared 5 digital trends in 2016, including the rise of ephemeral marketing (fancy word for quick and fleeting digital advertising delivered in real-time). Today, Snapchat, the leader in ephemeral marketing, announced the new “Memories” feature, a searchable and shareable archive of your snaps. This is the largest shift the app has seen over the last 4 years, and may shock users who have flocked to Snapchat’s disappearing messages due to the lack of permanent record.
What brought on this update? The app is being used more and more to capture moments with greater meaning and significance than DJ Khaled’s endless keys to success. Snapchat is used to capture everything from events and family vacations to graduations and weddings. You can even design custom geo-filters for friends and families to use at your event. These authentic moments are memories people want to cherish and revisit, beyond the 24-hour life of a Snapchat “story”. With Memories, users can save and share old snaps in a private archive that lives in the the main app. This “social camera roll” can be organized, edited, shared, and even reposted to your story with a white frame and time stamp to designate that it’s an older snap (Timehop inspired?).
The app update is set to be rolled out to users over the next 30 days.
What does this mean for the smartphone camera roll? The Memories update suggests the app’s growing status as the default camera for Snapchat’s 100 million+ users.
Check out Snapchat’s Memories introduction here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm1RfWn0tQ8
