The Snapchat update we all hate!

As many of you are probably aware, around a month ago Snapchat updated its format. Previously your direct snaps were on the left and stories were on the right. Now all personal contacts are on the left, direct snaps and stories and the right is now filled with celebrities I would never directly follow. But surprise surprise now that this content is immediately available on the app I’ve found my watching Philip Schofield’s and Kim Kardashian’s story more than once, despite taking no interest in these individuals in general and if anything usually directly avoiding their content. So why has this changed?

                                                                                                               

Old:                                                                                                          

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 New:

Mere Exposure:

Thanks to this information being placed right in front of me I now know that Zayn has a new 10 million dollar ‘bachelor pad’ in New York and Philip Schofield was making a lemon drizzle cake. This is not information I needed but information I have because it was placed right in front of me. There were a lot of brand adverts in these stories as well Humphrey et al (2017) found that incidental social media exposure influences brand choice, this leads into celebrity endorsement.

Celebrity Endorsement:

Over the last week seen many things from Kyle Jenner using a new waist trainer to get ‘body back into shape’ after having a baby; To James Corden hosting a new show. Celebrity endorsement is seen as more creditable than non-celebrities (Muda, Musa, Mohamed & Borhan, 2013).Which is why companies hire celebrities to advertise their products. There also now seem to be ads inserted in the middle or at the end of a celebrity’s story. I’ve seen adverts for Primark, river island and Beats. This is a way of implying celebrity endorsement without the celebrity having to actively do anything like a photo shoot.

FOMO: people hate missing out. Even if we don’t think this is information we need or want, the thought that everyone else is watching and enjoying these people’s stories, and are potentially going to bring them up in conversation with us later is enough to make us want to watch them.

References:

Humphrey Jr, W., Laverie, D., & Rinaldo, S. (2017). Brand choice via incidental social media exposure. Journal Of Research In Interactive Marketing, 11(2), 110-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jrim-04-2016-0025

Muda, M., Musa, R., Mohamed, R., & Borhan, H. (2013). Celebrity Entrepreneur Endorsement and Advertising Effectiveness. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 130, 11-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.04.002