SNAPCHAT'S NEW #MEMORIES FEATURE
July 9, 2016
Wow, there is a lot of internet chatter about Snapchat's brand new release of Memories a few days ago. The platform broke the news on Monday but the actual update wasn't released until yesterday (7/7/16). So what is the new Memories section, are there any changes to Snapchat with this addition and why are people so up in arms @ it?!
First, let me start with the middle question - YES! There is a pretty big change to how you now save and download or export your Snaps to your personal photo gallery on your phone. But before I get into that, let's talk Memories.
WHAT IS MEMORIES?
Memories is now where all of your Snaps (photos or videos) that you have added to your Story will be saved, if you download them. Not only can you save your Snaps but you can do a general search to located past experiences such as "beach" or "birthday" etc. as well as add various Stories together.
WHERE CAN I FIND AND HOW TO USE MEMORIES?
You can locate the Memories section via a small circle icon on the bottom middle of your Camera screen, right below the Camera circle. When you open Memories for the 1st time ever, Snapchat will identify all your previously downloaded Snaps in you photo gallery. (Hmmmmm, didn't know that they clearly have embedded code that marks them as Snaps). If you chose to add yours in to the new Memories section (essentially, re-storing them there), then you can access the Search feature.
Another feature that I didn't mention in the video is the ability to UPLOAD ANY SAVED PHOTO FROM YOUR GALLERY to your Snapchat Story. Hmmmmm? Isn't Snapchat about real-time? Here's how you do it.
- When you go into your Camera screen (press the large round circle)
- Then press the smaller Memories circle right below it
- This will launch your saved Snaps AND give you access to your entire photo gallery
- Select Photo Gallery at the top
- Click on the image you want
- Voila! Note that there will be a small frame and a tag that it was uploaded from your photo gallery, allowing people viewing your Story to know it wasn't a true Snap.
One more feature is MY EYES ONLY, a place you can move/forward any images you don't want to live inside your general Memories roll/photo gallery. As the name implies, this is a secret spot inside Snapchat for your, I guess, secret Snaps. Here's how you do it.
- Click on the photo in your Memories roll
- Click the EDIT & SAVE option and the drop down menu will appear in the upper left
- Click on My Eyes Only and there you go
I CAN'T JUST DOWNLOAD MY SNAPS TO MY CAMERA GALLERY NOW
Yep, that's right. The BIG change to saving your Snaps is just that. In April, I had shared with you the 3 Ways to Download and Save Your Snaps. Before Memories, you were able to download your Snap(s) using the gray arrows in various places and it would be saved to your camera gallery. Now, with Memories, you still use the gray download arrows BUT your Snaps get saved only to your Memories section. From there, you have to find the image or video, click on "Edit & Save" and then choose from a dropdown menu of 3 options what you want to do. To save to your camera gallery, you want to Export your Snap. Basically, Snapchat has added a few extra (and annoying) steps for us to save outside of the platform now.
WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT HAPPY @ MEMORIES
From what I have read and IMO, Snapchat's basic core foundation is now nil. The big idea was disappearing photos and videos. While, yes, you could manually save your Snaps, there wasn't any place to actually save them inside the platform and Snapchat never touted this function. For many, this is a "jump the shark" moment, a sell-out, a major tipping point to "what platform is next that I can move on it now?"
WHY ADVERTISERS & WHY SNAPCHAT WILL BE HAPPY @ MEMORIES
I believe that Snapchat introduced this photo-gallery-save-and-search feature (aka Memories) so Snapchat can provide a lot more data and analytics to potential advertisers about who, what, where, when, and why people are using Snapchat. It's that simple. Let's see if their goal for growth alienates their own community.
Overall, I think it's a decent move for them. As a 30+ set person, I haven't been using Snapchat since it launched (and although I am an active user now, many of my friends don't use it at all or barely) That being said, I completely get why loyal users' would express dismay at this significant change to the functionality and, more importantly, the core foundation.
We all talk about and throw the word "authentic" and, perhaps, many people now think Snapchat has lost their gilded "real" edge.
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