Snapchat has recently added a new feature: the Snap Map. The Snap Map allows users to view stories of events such as sports games, breaking news and other popular gatherings happening around the world. The new feature also allows users to see where your Snapchat friends are, who they are with and even what they’re doing.
Every time a user opens the Snapchat app, his or her location is updated. Snapchat gives users the option to share their location– shown through your bitmoj– with friends, or to stay in ghost mode.
To access your Snap Map, open the Snapchat app and pinch your fingers inward on the screen, as if you are zooming out of a photo. Once the map is open, you are free to zoom and scroll all around the world, getting as close as street view to other’s bitmojis.
The feelings people have over the Snap Map seem fairly mixed. Lili Ayllon, junior education major at Cabrini, is all for the Snap Map.
“The map helps me in my efforts of being creepy and seeing where my friends are at. Now I know where they are at without even having to ask,” Ayllon said.
Meanwhile, on the contrary, Diana Poorman, junior HR management student at Cabrini, feels that Snapchat is “going way too far” with the new feature.
“I feel like it’s an invasion of privacy,” Poorman said. “I don’t think that it’s anyone’s business to know exactly where I am and if I’m driving or listening to music. It’s too invasive, so I’m glad Snapchat gives you the option to put yourself in ghost mode, because that is definitely where I plan on staying.”
Snap Map can be seen as a fun, creative way of keeping up with your Snapchat friends to some, but others are fearing possible safety concerns the feature may bring.
Bianca Santos, junior biology major at Cabrini, is one of those Snapchat users who is thinking twice about sharing their location with all of the users on Snapchat.
“I think the idea of the Snap Map is really cool. I do like seeing where my friends, boyfriend and family are when I’m snapping them, but I don’t think everyone on my friends list needs to see where I am,” Santos said. “I have over 300 friends on Snapchat; most of them are really just acquaintances of mine and even some people I’ve only met once. I’m not fully comfortable with those users seeing where I’m at all the time, so for now, I have my settings set to where only about 10 of my closest friends can see my location.”
Bianca urged her friends to also think twice about who they share their location with, so they too can stay safe while using the app.
Snap Map is not favored by everyone. While some people are all for the new features allowing you to keep up with friends and see who they’re with, others are concerned about sharing their location with others.
In addition to keeping tabs on peoples’ whereabouts, the map allows users to keep up with current events and see what is happening around the world as well. Whether you stay in ghost mode or share your location with others, even just with a few friends, make sure to consider all the possibilities and possible consequences of the Snap Map.
