At Snap’s annual NewFront event for advertisers on Tuesday, Alyssa McKay, creator of Snapchat, championed a message that nothing in her life was off limits to her followers. Claiming that subscribers feel like they’re video-calling their best friend when they watch her story, McKay promoted visibility as a major tenant of Snapchat. The company has always leaned into its ability to foster meaningful connections between friends, differentiating itself from other social media outlets, which it believes tends to divide users more than connect them.
These foundcommunties-builder messages were further perpetuated by Rob Wilk, President of the Americas of Snapchat, when discussing the app’s new generative AI chatbot, My AI, which has gained both comfort and criticism from users since it was released to the public last month. Wilk declared My AI a partner for curiosity, connection, and endless utility. However, with features such as these, the notion of real connection – the idea that Snapchat was built upon – may be getting lost in the mix.
Snap, Inc. (formerly Snapchat, Inc.) is an American technology and camera company. Founded in September 2011, the company has released Snapchat, a multimedia messaging platform, as its primary product and operates as a camera company. The Snapchat application allows users to take photos, record videos, and add text and drawings to them, and then share them with a “snapcode”, QR-like code, to their friends or client.Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app used primarily for creating and sharing photos, videos, and messages. It was created in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University. The app was released in September 2011 as “Picaboo” and was later renamed to Snapchat. The app allows users to take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to friends. All photos, videos, and messages viewed or sent through Snapchat will be gone after a predetermined time limit.
Alyssa McKay is a writer and creator of the storytelling platform, Snapchat. She is well known for her openness about her life and for the highly interactive stories she creates for her large audience. McKay first stepped into the public eye in 2014 as one of the first writers at Tinder, the location-based dating app. Since then, she has created documentaries, articles and Snapchat stories, and has been on a mission to help people live more meaningful lives. By providing her audience with intimate glimpses into her day to day life, McKay hopes to encourage people to be unafraid of openly expressing themselves.
