Snapchat: Making the news more instant than ever

Attention spans are getting shorter. Chances are if I wrote more than say, 500 words, you'd lose interest. Which is why I'll try to keep this relatively short. I think that the traditional news industry is facing this issue more and more every year. People aren't reading as many long articles, due to the rushed lifestyle that most people have adopted in this day and age. One major change in online journalism to accommodate those short of attention has been the emergence of Snapchat. 

Snapchat is very simple, take either photos, or ten second videos, and send them to friends on the app. After 10-20 seconds, the video is no longer viewable, unless you designate the video as part of your "story", which stays live for 24 hours. Studies show that Snapchat is the most popular social media network among teenagers. But you probably knew that anyway. 

Over the past few years, as a Snapchat user myself, I have noticed more and more news sites have moved to Snapchat, with the goal of reaching the next generation of readers and viewers. You enter the discover tab on the app, and some of the biggest news organizations have stories at the top of the page for people to see.

For example, CBC, BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera English have all embraced to Snapchat.  The main use of Snapchat comes in quick hitting videos that tells the news of the day. This format is popularized by "E!," with their incredibly popular, bi-weekly celebrity news show, "The Rundown", made exclusively for Snapchat.  

I think using Snapchat as a news platform has pros that definitely outweigh the cons. Snapchat videos are often instantaneous and quick hitting, which helps people to stay involved and interested. Plus, most people would agree that it's easier to sit and watch a video, versus sitting down to read an article. If you are a journalist reporting on a scene, you can snap about what's going on, show what's happening, how people are reacting, etc. 

People are in a rush these days; they have places to go and people to see. They don't have time to sit down and read articles. News on Snapchat, in my opinion, is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to change the way that we view the news in the next 5-10 years.