News
Snapchat Has A New Feature For You
We love listing our locations on social media, especially if it's somewhere exotic, weird, or nostalgic. With this in mind, ephemeral photo-sharing app Snapchat has been experimenting with Geofilters, an add-on feature that tags snaps with the location it's taken along with user-submitted artwork. When Geofilters launched in July, it was only available to developers and in locations in LA and New York City. On Tuesday, Snapchat announced that Geofilters is available to everyone, anywhere in the world. Geofilters is a much more personal and artistic version of the "Name this location" features on Instagram and Facebook, and it's incredibly easy to use — and create.
Geofilters is exactly what it sounds like — location-based filters that get added to your snaps before you send them. Which filters you get depends on where you are in the world. If you're in Venice Beach, CA, you'll have a totally different set of filters to choose from than if you were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The filters themselves are created and submitted by users and vary from pop-art-inspired graphics to typographical captions listing the location. So not only are you sharing your location, you're also sharing your art.
Many industry insiders speculate that Snapchat will monetize Geofilters by adding ads or branded content in the mix somehow. It's also possible that businesses could pay the company to submit their own filters.
But for now, learn how Geofilters works as both a creator and a sender.
How to Use Geofilters
Using Geofilters couldn't be simpler. All you have to do is swipe right to unlock which filters have been submitted for the location you're in at the time. Choose one in the preview screen and then send your snap.
It's perfect for personalizing snaps to long-distance loves, friends, and family.
How to Create Geofilters
Creating Geofilters is a cinch too. Though Snapchat encourages artists and designers to submit, anyone can create their own filters and submit for the company's approval. Just go to the Community Geofilter page and click "Let's Do It!" From there, the steps are broken down as follows:
- Please submit a web-optimized, transparent PNG, an Adobe Illustrator file on a single artboard, or an Adobe Photoshop file with a single canvas. (Dimensions should be 1080 x 1920 pixels.)
- Leave a buffer zone on the top and the bottom of the phone.
- Avoid borders!
- Click on the Google Map and draw the area in which you want your filters to be seen.
- Upload the image and fill in your name, email, and an explanation of why this location is meaningful for you.
- Submit.
The best part is that you don't have to be in a certain location to create filters for it. You can create filters for anywhere in the world, including places you've only visited once — as long as the location holds special meaning for you. Imagine the possibilities for a city like Paris....
