Snapchat could be gearing up to more directly challenge TikTok. The company confirmed itâs testing a new experience that allows users to move through Snapchatâs public content with a vertical swiping motion â a gesture thatâs been popularized by TikTok, where it allows users to advance between videos. Snapchat says the feature is one of its experiments in exploring different, immersive visual formats for community content.
The test is focused on content thatâs published publicly to Snapchat Discover, not your friendsâ private Stories. But because Stories can have multiple parts, users will still tap to advance through the Story, as before. But in the new experiment, a horizontal swiping motion â either to the left or right â will exit the experience, instead of moving you between Stories, as before.
For anyone who spends much of their time on TikTok, the vertical swipe now feels like a more natural way to move through videos. And itâs almost disorienting to return to Snapchat or other apps where the horizontal swipe is used.
This test was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, citing a post from Twitter user @artb2668. One photo being shared shows the pop-up in the app which explains how to navigate the new experience, while a video gives you an idea for the feel.
There is a video of the update (sorry for the bad quality I record it with my phone) pic.twitter.com/gFZXlMFBBJ
â Arthur (@artb2668) July 13, 2020
Snapchat declined to offer specific details about the test, beyond clarifying itâs in the early stages and only viewable by a very small percentage of its user base.
âWeâre always experimenting with new ways to bring immersive and engaging content to our mobile-first Snapchat community,â a spokesperson told TechCrunch.
The timing of Snapâs test is interesting, of course.
The Trump administration is currently threatening to ban TikTok in the U.S. due to the appâs ties to China and fears that Americansâ private user data will end up in the hands of Chinaâs Communist Party. The app has already been banned in India for similar reasons. On Friday, Amazon instructed its employees to remove the app from their company-issued smartphones, before retracting that demand around five hours later. U.S. military branches have also blocked access to the app, following a Pentagon warning earlier this year. Meanwhile, Musical.ly (the app that became TikTok) has had its acquisition by Chinaâs ByteDance come under a U.S. national security review.Â
Amid the threat of TikTokâs removal, rival social apps have climbed the app store charts, including Byte, Likee, Triller and Dubsmash. Instagram, meanwhile, has been expanding its TikTok-like feature, Reels, to new markets, including India. Even YouTube began testing a TikTok-like experience in recent days.
Itâs no surprise, then, that Snapchat would want to do the same among its own user base, as well, given that the TikTok U.S. audience could be soon up for grabs.
The test also shows how influential TikTok has become in terms of dictating the social app user experience. Where Snapchat once had its concept for short-form Stories stolen by nearly every other social app, including most notably Instagram, itâs now the swipeable TikTok vertical feed that everyone is copying.
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