Snapchat now lets users submit their own location-based photo filters
Remember when Snapchat launched its peculiar geofilters earlier this year? Yeah, we scarcely do either - you could only add those location-sensitive photo effects in a smattering of special locales, so there's a decent shot you've never even had the chance to try them. Now the wildly popular messaging startup is trying to make those things a touch more accessible by letting users like you and me create and share our own geofilters (...once the company signs off on them, anyway).
But first, a quick primer on what geofilters actually are. If you were traipsing through, say, Venice Beach, you could swipe right from the snapshot editing screen to reveal an image overlay that reflects where you are. Sorta cool, no? The feature first launched with support for spots in Los Angeles and New York City, but today's big push means you can craft filters for weddings, street fairs and the occasional bar mitzvah. It doesn't take a whole lot to get started, either: just upload a suitable image to Snapchat and draw an outline of where you'd like it to show up. Once the Snapchat team approves your submission, it's off to the ephemeral messaging races.
Of course, it's not hard to see what else Snapchat could get out of this. The company's valued at billions of dollars, and it's slowly been working to actually make some money off the backs of its myriad users. Given that Snapchat has been running sponsored stories for months and that it formally introduced ads into the mix back in October, we wouldn't be shocked to see even more brand-sponsored geofilters pop up in the days and weeks to come. At least now we average folk can even the playing field with our own gawdy, location-based creations, right?
