Is Snapchat Recommitting To Its Creative Community?

Today, Snapchat made a slew of changes in regards to the content and creative community on its platform. Snapchat's small creative community has suffered due to the company's own content decisions, which favored advertisers and traditional media. The company's new changes signal a renewed interest in making Snapchat a home for independent content creators and finally addressing their most pressing concerns.

In a January article, I discussed why many Snapchat creators felt left behind by Snapchat Inc. Although the platform launched the careers of celebrities like DJ Khaled in its early years, successive creators on the platform have found it difficult to grow their followings due to Snapchat's focus on courting advertisers and traditional media. Cemented by the platform's 2018 redesign, independent creators lacked visibility, falling to the bottom of the app's Discover page and, and Lens creators at times had their work stolen. Creators attempted to voice their concerns and were met with indifference until now.

Perhaps the he most attention-grabbing new feature of Snapchat's changes is the rollout of Creator Shows this summer. These vertical, first-person, personality-driven stories will feature creators who come from a number of countries, topics, and backgrounds in both traditional and digital media, including Serena Williams, Emma Chamberlain, Ricky Thompson, GeeohSnap, Kevin Hart, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. These Shows will be featured on Snapchat's Discover page alongside the news, magazines, and advertisements. They stand to finally give digital media stars their needed parity in terms of visibility on Snapchat. Yet, Creator Shows are limited to the platform's top creators, ignoring many of Snapchat's creators that have been moderately popular for years or are trying to break-in.

“Snapchat has always been a place where my fans can get to know the real, authentic me. Making a show with Snap was a really fun experience, and I'm excited for everyone to see it.”

The changes that hold the most promise for Snapchat's creative community at large are the new "Highlights" and "Official Profile" features coming this summer. Similar to Instagram's "Story Highlights," Snapchat's Highlights allow creators to save their best Snaps for new and existing fans. Lens creators will be able to use this tool to showcase their lens creations.

Highlights will be incorporated into the redesigned and full-screen official profiles for creators with official accounts. This profile will include a bio, photo, URL, location, and email, with the express purpose of providing users with a more direct connection to their favorite personalities and creators with an opportunity to grow their following. In the future Snapchat will do more with the profile feature, linking Creator profiles to the shows in which they are featured.

Official profiles address one of the most pressing concerns for current independent creators on Snapchat— visibility and growth. By being able to save their best snaps to Highlights, creators are able to have material available to users at all times, even if they haven't posted recently. Lens creators can be sure that their work is credited as theirs. If Snapchat starts to look at more for just its top creators for its shows, links between show and creator profiles could be profitable for up-and-coming independent creators, and judging the company's most recent moves to attract talent, this hypothetical isn't be far off.

Snapchat introduced its Comedy Creator Initiative in October 2018, which challenged independent creators to imagine what sitcoms should look like for a mobile generation. These sitcoms are 8-10 episodes per season with each episode being 3-5 minutes in length. The best of them will be rolled out this summer. The company liked the animated comedy "All Dog$ Get Money" so much that it announced a similar program, the Animated Comedy Creator Initiative with pitch submissions open from today until August 26th, 2019. Continued efforts by Snapchat to attract independent talent through these initiatives are a boon not just for its existing creative community but creators seeking a way to spotlight their work.

After years of neglect, Snapchat seems to have made up with its creative community and enacted the changes necessary for creators to no longer just survive but thrive on the platform. These changes still have yet to be fully implemented and only address the visibility concern that creators have, leaving out important conversations like monetization. Still, they should inspire hope that, in tackling the greatest challenge for creators on the platform, Snapchat is recommitting itself to fostering its organic creative community.

Titled shows premiering this summer on Snapchat (loglines provided by Snap Inc.):

• Trend or End with Rickey Thomspon - Camo pants are so 2018… but flamin’ hot cheetos are a major trend. Rickey Thompson is the judge, jury, and executioner of all things fashion and lifestyle in this Snapchat series. Premieres July 10.
• Glow Up with Loren Gray - Gen Z icon Loren Gray is sharing her expert advice by weaving heartfelt affirmations into practical beauty tutorials. Premieres July 11.
• Throwback Toys with Jordyn Jones - Jordyn Jones is going way back in time to unbox her favorite toys from growing up and give them a real talk adult review! Premieres July 12.
• Keepin’ It Real with Keke Palmer - Dive into Keke’s mind for advice on all of life’s crazy situations…it’s a Dear Abby in the DM’s. Premieres July 13.
• Get Creative with GeeohSnap - Amazing artwork awaits when creator and illustrator GeeOhSnap teaches you all his tricks to create incredible art with the Snap Camera. Premieres July 14.
• Rules of Success with Arnold Schwarzenegger - It’s Arnold in your pocket! Tune-in every episode for motivational advice from the legend himself.
• Apocalypse Goals (Olivia DeLaurentis & Sydney Heller) Sydney and Olivia return home from a bachelorette party to find out… it’s the end of the world. Equipped with only a basic millennial skillset and the things Sydney bought while she was drunk in Vegas, the two girls go on a cross-country road trip to escape the alien apocalypse. Premieres July 10.
• All Dog$ Get Money (Gerald Grissette) - Animated parody of the rap world following a mid-tier rapper through the absurd ins and outs of his life and career. Premieres July 11.
• Relationship Goals (Ben Waller) - The story of two vain people coming together and coming unglued, all told through the POV of their closest confidante and must trusted companion: their phones. A found-footage "You're The Worst." 
• The Daily Realness (Skyler Fulton) A mockumentary series about a clickbait-driven website.