The newest Snapchat update has left users everywhere furious as their newest algorithm proves to be confusing. Hundreds of Snapchat users have taken their opinions to Twitter, tweeting at the corporation:
*The public has taken their outrage to twitter, tweeting both obscenities and memes at the company (all screenshots courtesy of myself).
So, we know that the new update sucks. But WHY exactly does it suck? I’ve broken it down into three parts:
1. The “friends” order is non-chronological:
The order of friends on the “messaging” page is neither in chronological nor most-frequently-snapped order. To message a friend, you must navigate through a long list of friends you’ve either never or barely messaged at all. The people you’ve snapchatted most-recently are no longer at the top of the page, and are instead found scattered amongst other users you follow. This leaves the app less personal to the user and more subject to a randomized order, which lacks rhyme or reason.
2. The Discover page is useless:
The vast majority of the stories on the Discover page are riddled with advertisements and are repeats of each other. Snapchat is primarily used for messaging, so the amount of “news stories” the user is bombarded with is ridiculous and out of place for the app. It may even be used less now as there is little organization to the page, and the stories developed are considered “clickbait.”
3. It lacks a “user-friendly” interface:
Users are required to go through multiple steps to navigate onto certain pages that were once easily accessible. Users seem to be most upset at the fact that it is hard to watch other people’s stories without having to wade through long lists of other friends, and that to rewatch someone’s story, you have to manually re-click on the friend’s profile. This proves to be more disorganized and less personal, leaving most users running to post their stories on Instagram so people will actually watch them.
Overall the update appears to look more disorganized and makes once-popular features hard to access. It is still unknown whether or not Snapchat will revert their update or re-update any time soon.
*thumbnail courtesy of Photopin.com.