By: Nick Gambino
In an effort to create more reasons to use the disappearing social media app, Snapchat has added a feature to their Snap Map that allows you to save your favorite spots to the app. The new feature in the location-sharing map is called “My Places.”
This isn’t too dissimilar to FourSquare and Google Maps where you can save restaurants and other locations, but this comes with a little twist. This is Snapchat after all and so most things can be accomplished with a simple snap. To “favorite” a place you can simply tag it in a snap. Once you’ve tagged a place it’s automatically saved in the “Visited” tab under the Snap Map, allowing you to heart it.
There are three tabs in the map section. “Visited” includes the places where you’ve checked in in the past. “Favorites” includes places you’ve hearted whether you’ve been there or want to go. Then there’s the “Popular” tab which is where you’ll find recommendations from Snapchat based on where you are at any given moment or places you’ve tagged or what’s in your Favorites list. The Popular section also factors in the behavior of your friends into the algorithm.
The Snap Map was introduced over four years ago and essentially shows hot spots for snaps. So if there’s a happening spot nearby you’ll see it glow red indicating there are a lot of snaps emanating from that location. All they’ve done is piggyback off this already built-in feature to now include the ability to save your favorite bars, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.
By adding this feature, Snap is taking steps to keep users in their app longer. So, for example, if you’re making plans with friends via Snapchat or looking for something to do, you don’t have to switch to a browser or Google Maps. This kind of retention is important for the survival of the platform.
The My Places feature is rolling out this week to all users. If you want to check it out, all you have to do is swipe to the Snap Map in your app and tap the “Places” button located at the bottom. If you don’t see it yet, be patient. It’s coming.
