Update & Outrage

Update+%26+Outrage

Snapchat users are angered by the updated version of the app

In the past, the app, snapchat, has been widely used by many people all over the world. The blue edges of the screen with red boxes on the left and emojis on the right was a familiar sight to people, maybe even a comforting one, the app was easy and fun to use. However, in February of 2018 users opened the app and were shocked to see something different; Snapchat had gotten a makeover.

Some changes to the app include stories and “snaps” being on the same page, previously watched snapchat stories “disappearing,” and the Discovery page being replaced with sponsored content.

“It’s annoying to watch stories,” said junior Natalie Campos. “[You used to] swipe to the left and it was all of the stories but now they’re more separated, it’s difficult to know when someone posts or not.”

Despite a multitude of backlash against the new update, Snapchat doesn’t have any plans of reversing the update. Because of this, users have taken to coming up with their own ideas about how to revert the app back to its previous self. In response, Snapchat’s support Twitter tweeted “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet – unofficial workarounds to change the way Snapchat looks are temporary and can result in getting permanently locked out of your account.”

“I think it’s irresponsible for them as a company to not listen to the complaints because there are a lot,” said junior Mia Dower. Senior Jia Yang Choo agrees.

“There was a picture on Twitter that showed someone’s direct message with Snapchat and apparently they said that they will change it back to the original format if 50,000 people retweeted it. Although it had over 1.3 million retweets since I last checked, Snapchat hasn’t done anything about it,” said Choo.

The update, which was announced last November after reports said that revenue and user growth were below Wall Street’s expectations, is so unpopular that some people have stopped using the app. “It’s so different and confusing, I’m barely on it now,” said Dower. The update was designed to make the app easier to do, however, it clearly didn’t accomplish this.

Though people like Dower don’t plan on using snapchat as much, Choo has no plans to stop using the app.

“I’m not going to stop using Snapchat because this one update sucked. They’ve done pretty good stuff in the past, so I hope they rebound and make Snapchat better,” said Choo.