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Snapchat gears up for the FIFA World Cup with new AR experiences, filters and more • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Apps, Snap, Snapchat, Social, world cupNo Comments

Snapchat is introducing a slew of new features and experiences ahead of the FIFA World Cup to let users show support for their teams and keep up with the tournament. The new features let you virtually try on jerseys, dress up your Bitmoji, watch match highlights and more. The app has partnered with Adidas to let users virtually dress their Bitmoji in the official home football kits of their team. Users will also get access to official team stickers and filters to decorate their snaps and support their team. The app is launching official team kit try-on experiences that allow users to express their fandom by wearing official team jerseys. The try-on Lenses leverage AR technology that originated as a Snap Research project and was in development for years, and is now available for developers to begin testing in Lens Studio. Image Credits: Snap Snapchat Discover, the app’s curated content platform, will publish highlights, goals, player interviews, match analysis and behind the scenes content during the tournament in over 30 countries. On Spotlight, Snapchat’s in-app entertainment platform for user generated content, users in the U.S. will have the chance to submit Snaps to for a chance to win cash prizes for creating top-performing snaps using specific Lenses, Sounds or Topics. In addition, Snap Map will feature curated stories of fans watching and celebrating their team during the games. Users will be able to tap specific places to see Snaps shared publicly. The stories will include Snaps from watch parties, fan experiences, reactions in the stands, game highlights and more.

Meta India head Ajit Mohan departs to join Snap • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in ajit mohan, Facebook, india, meta, Snap, SocialNo Comments

Ajit Mohan, the head of Meta in India, has left the firm and joined rival Snap, according to sources familiar with the matter. At Snap, Mohan will serve as the President of the APAC business, two sources said. Mohan joined Meta, called Facebook then, in January 2019 as a VP and MD of the India business. During his stay at the firm, Facebook’s family of apps including Instagram and WhatsApp added over 200 million users in India and made a series of ambitious investments in the country, including cutting a $5.7 billion check to Indian telecom giant Jio Platforms and ramped up the commerce engine of WhatsApp. A McKinsey alum, Mohan rose to the stardom at Star, where he played an instrumental role in getting the entertainment conglomerate to launch a streaming service, called Hotstar. Along with Uday Shankar, Mohan also played a key part in the content strategy of Hotstar, banking on local movies and shows and sports streaming. The timely bet on online streaming and cricket helped Hotstar become a crown jewel in Disney’s portfolio after the Fox acquisition. “Ajit has decided to step down from his role at Meta to pursue another opportunity outside of the company,” Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta, said in a statement. “Over the last four years, he has played an important role in shaping and scaling our India operations so they can serve many millions of Indian businesses, partners and people. We remain deeply committed to India and have a strong leadership team in place to carry on all our work and partnerships. We are grateful for Ajit’s leadership and contribution and wish him the very best for the future.” (More to follow)

Snap and Amazon partner on AR shopping in the Snapchat app, initially for eyewear • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Amazon, Apps, Commerce, SnapNo Comments

Snap has landed a notable new partner for its augmented reality-powered Virtual Try-On shopping experience with today’s news that Amazon will now offer Snapchat users the ability to digitally try on eyewear styles from a range of popular brands. The new partnership between Amazon Fashion and the social app maker will see brands including Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Costa Del Mar and others made available for virtual try-on to Snapchat’s 363 million daily active users, the retailer says. The launch will see dozens of new Shopping Lenses made available across categories like sunglasses, reading glasses and seasonal glasses. The partnership is one of several that have followed Snap’s investments in AR shopping, where it has this year rolled out a number of upgrades to better appeal to retailers and brands, including the ability to update product information and pricing in real time, access better analytics and more easily create AR Shopping Lenses, among other things. Other brands that have leveraged Snapchat’s AR Shopping Lenses have included MAC Cosmetics, Ulta Beauty, American Eagle, Puma, Chanel, Walmart, LVMH, eyewear brands Goodr and Zenni Optical, and recently, for Halloween, costume company Disguise. Over the last year, Snap says 250 million Snapchat users have engaged with its AR Shopping Lenses more than 5 billion times. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon To create the AR shopping experience for Amazon, Amazon used Snap’s self-service creation system in Lens Web Builder, which allowed for scalable AR asset creation by using Amazon’s existing 3D models. If the Amazon products’ prices change or an item goes out of stock, the Lenses will be automatically updated in real time, notes Snap. Shopping Lens creation is an area where Snap has been working to improve its technology. Earlier this year it updated its Lens Web Builder that allowed bands to create shopping Lenses in a matter of minutes. This April, Snap announced it would begin offering retailers access to a new AR image-processing technology in its 3D asset manager that makes it easier and faster to build AR shopping experiences. The process uses AI and the brand’s own photography to turn standard photos into AR assets, Snap explained at the time. To access the new Amazon AR shopping feature, Snapchat users can find the new Lenses on the @amazonfashion public profile on the Snapchat app, through Snap’s Lens Explorer, through the new “Dress-Up” tab featuring AR shopping experiences and through the Snap Camera Lens Carousel. When users discover a pair of glasses they like, they can tap on a link at the bottom of the screen to make a purchase. This directs them to the Amazon app on their phone to check out. Snap does not receive a commission on these sales, we understand. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon Amazon also notes that Snapchat users will now be able to browse thousands of eyewear products in the Amazon Fashion “store” tab on its profile, though these will not be AR-enabled. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon While the AR shopping experience is starting with eyewear, it will be the first of more Amazon AR shopping experiences on Snapchat still to come. We understand the broader plan is to kick off the partnership with eyewear but expand into other categories in the months ahead. Snap also suggests this is the case in its public statement: “With the combined innovation and technology between Snap and Amazon, we are unlocking exciting and fun new try-on experiences for hundreds of millions of Snapchatters,” said Ben Schwerin, SVP of Partnerships at Snap, in an announcement. “AR eyewear is just the first step in our partnership, and we can’t wait to continue our innovation together,” he added. Amazon also noted it has already invested in AR shopping experiences itself and sees Snap as an extension of those efforts. “Millions of customers regularly use Amazon’s AR shopping technology across categories in our stores, with Virtual Try-On for Eyewear being a long-time customer favorite,” stated Muge Erdirik Dogan, president of Amazon Fashion. “We are delighted to partner with Snapchat and further expand AR shopping for both fashion brands and today’s new generation of digital shoppers.” Neither company would comment on the expected duration of their newly established partnership. This is not Amazon’s first foray into AR shopping. Recently, Amazon announced its own expansion in AR shopping with the June 2022 launch of a new virtual try-on experience for shoes, available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada in the Amazon iOS app. Using the feature, app users could shop for shoes from brands like New Balance, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Saucony, Lacoste, Asics and Superga. Prior to this, Amazon had only dabbled in AR shopping, having experimented in areas like AR for furniture shopping and sillier things, like AR Stickers or AR features on its seasonal shipping boxes. It’s not clear if AR is leading to a sizable increase in conversions through Amazon’s own efforts, however, as we’d likely see more AR features if it had. That could be, in part, why Amazon is now looking to an outside partner for AR shopping — and one that appeals to a younger crowd more comfortable with using the technology and keen to browse and shop from a social media app.

Snap stock down 25% as the social network struggles • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 20, 2022Posted in Apps, earnings, Snap, Snapchat, SocialNo Comments

Snap reported its third quarter earnings Thursday, the first social media company to offer a financial update amidst ongoing economic tumult this quarter. The company, which has seen its stock price plunge to a fraction of what it was worth during 2021’s highs, missed analyst expectations on revenue, bringing in $1.13 billion compared to the $1.14 billion anticipated. Snap’s stock dipped from around $11 per share to $8 in late trading following the report. Snap’s revenue is up 6 percent this quarter, a number that doesn’t compare favorably to previous periods of double digit growth. The company’s net loss accelerated to $360 million, which includes $155 million in “restructuring charges.” The company’s daily active users were up 57 million to 363 million in Q3, a 19 percent increase from the same period last year. “This quarter we took action to further focus our business on our three strategic priorities: growing our community and deepening their engagement with our products, reaccelerating and diversifying our revenue growth, and investing in augmented reality,” CEO Evan Spiegel said of the quarter. While other social networks are similarly struggling due to a combination of broader economic factors, ascendant competitors and the still-reverberating changes from Apple’s ad tracking changes, Snap in particular has taken a beating. In August, the Verge reported that Snap planned to lay off a fifth of its workforce, or around 1,200 employees. The company didn’t offer a forecast for the third quarter results and similarly declined to make predictions about its upcoming quarter.

Target.com is latest retailer to add support for SNAP payments for online shoppers • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in Commerce, eCommerce, online grocery, Snap, TargetNo Comments

Target is the latest national retailer to roll out the ability for customers to pay with their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits when shopping for groceries online. While the payment method has long been accepted in stores, online grocery retailers offering curbside pickup and delivery programs have only more recently begun to support the payment type in their online offerings. That was also true for Target, where customers who wanted to pay with SNAP could only do so in-store. Now, the retailer says customers will be able to pay for SNAP-eligible grocery items on Target.com. Soon, it will also introduce mobile payment options for digital orders in the Target app. These changes will allow customers to use SNAP to buy groceries for same-day pickup through Target’s Order Pickup and Drive Up services, both of which don’t have minimum order requirements or subscription fees. Customers can also apply Target Circle discounts to their food items, when available, or shop the grocery deals in the retailer’s weekly ads. To get started, customers will first need to log into their Target.com account and add their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) account number as a new card under “Payments.” They can then add SNAP-eligible items to their online cart and pay using their EBT payment method at checkout, confirming their purchase with the PIN. “Food and beverage is an incredibly important part of our guests’ lives, especially as we head into the holiday season,” said Rick Gomez, Target’s chief food and beverage officer, in a statement. “I’m proud that we’re adding new digital payment options for grocery shopping so we can make the entire Target experience more accessible to all families,” he added. Target had announced earlier this year it would soon accept SNAP for online food purchases, and then began pilot-testing the option in select states this year, including Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas after first testing the feature earlier this summer in Minnesota alone. With this week’s announcement, the SNAP payment option is available in all U.S. states except Alaska, Target says. As many retailers have already explained, online shopping should no longer be considered a luxury. Lower-income shoppers, including those on SNAP, can often save money by shopping online where they can better compare deals between stores and where they may find discounts they may have otherwise overlooked. In addition, being able to shop for groceries online can be a time-saver — particularly for those who are working long hours or multiple jobs to make ends meet. In recent years, many major U.S. retailers have introduced support for SNAP to online consumers, including Amazon and Walmart, both of which were participants in a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pilot program introduced in 2019 that aimed to open up online grocery shopping to those on public assistance. And with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the following year, the need for the program became even more critical as people looked to avoid indoor shopping to reduce their risk of catching the virus. Outside of the retailers, other grocery providers have also been working to help customers on public assistance. Instacart this year has been steadily advancing support for SNAP across various U.S. states, allowing shoppers to use its app to buy groceries from select retailers using their benefits, after initially partnering with ALDI to offer the option back in 2020. Amazon, too, has been looking to better support lower-income shoppers, having just reorganized its website to introduce a new hub that aggregates its discounts and various assistance programs under one roof. Here, shoppers can find its discounted Prime membership, Amazon Layaway, and information about using Amazon Cash and SNAP EBT payments.

Snapchat brings parental controls to India through in-app tool ‘Family Center’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 10, 2022Posted in Apps, india, Snap, SnapchatNo Comments

Snapchat is bringing an initial set of parental controls to users in India — a couple of months after its debut in the U.S. and some other markets — to deliver parents and guardians in the key oversea market insights on how their teens are using the social networking app. The in-app tool, called Family Center, lets parents and guardians review who their teens are friends with on the social app and who they have messaged in the last seven days. (They are not able to see the exact content of those messages.) It also brings the ability to report safety concerns and potential abuse to Snap’s Trust and Safety team to review. Parents and guardians need to install the Snapchat app on their devices and link their accounts to those of their teens using an opt-in invite process to use the new feature. Once the accounts are linked, the tool can be accessed with all its controls either from the Snapchat app’s Profile Settings or by searching for “family” or “family center” from the app’s Search functionality. Snapchat’s Family Center The parental controls are notably available to parents and guardians whose teens are between 13–18 since Snapchat is not meant to be used by younger people. Snap first announced the arrival of its parental controls in October last year and introduced them in the U.S. in August. That was followed by the launch of similar features launched by competitive social networking platforms including Meta’s Instagram and TikTok. Snap’s offering, however, isn’t as expansive. It does not allow parents and guardians to restrict their teens from using the app after a particular time frame, for instance, a feature that Instagram and TikTok both offer. The Santa Monica, California-headquartered company is also not addressing concerns about inappropriate behavior, such as sexting, on its platform with the new tool. The app’s ephemeral messages opens the app to misuse and abuse. Snapchat has introduced some additional measures over the years, such as requiring teens to have mutual friends before they can start chatting. The app also does not allow teenagers to have public profiles. Snap said it is working with local nonprofits FXB India Suraksha and CyberPeace Foundation to launch its Family Center feature in India. It will also closely work with both organizations to add new parental controls, the company said. Snapchat shares insights with parents and guardians through its Family Center Over the coming months, Snap said it plans to bring new features to Family Center, including new content controls for parents. Teens will also be able to notify their parents when they report an account or a piece of content to the platform. “Snapchat is a central communications tool for so many young Indians, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe. Our new in-app Family Center tool will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, to help foster positive conversations about online safety while respecting the privacy and autonomy of teens,” said Uthara Ganesh, Public Policy Head, India, Snap, in a prepared statement. Snap is also launching bully prevention and mental health campaigns globally to celebrate World Mental Health Day and Bullying Prevention Month. The company in India said it is partnering with nonprofit Sangath for these campaigns. India is an important market for Snap where it has amassed over 109 million monthly active users, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. In August, Snap introduced its premium offering, Snapchat+, in the South Asian market.