Snapchat stars allocated custom emojis to aid searches
Snapchat’s biggest stars have been given a range of emojis to help differentiate them from the hoi polloi as part of the roll-out of a new feature called ‘Official Stories’.
Part of efforts to improve search functionality to make it easier to find famous named individuals, the move will be limited to Snapchat royalty for now, but may be rolled out to the masses in due course.
It follows a number of changes to be introduced by the self-destruct messaging app including, more controversially, a decision to begin charging for visual effects.
This would see a 99c fee levied to anyone wishing to keep forever a ‘lens’, Snapchat jargon for customised animations used to pep up ordinary photographs with special effects, instead of losing it after a day or two.
Snapchat spokeswoman Mary Ritti said: “Our community really loves the lenses and have been asking to keep them for longer than a few days. We created the Lens Store to give them that option."
Snapchat recently introduced functionality enabling users to purchase three additional views of received messages for 99c.