Snapchat/Instagram Analysis: Day 1 (Feb. 27)
This analysis is for the purpose of a class assignment at Missouri Western State University. The idea is to focus on how news organizations use certain social media (Snapchat and Instagram) to their advantages and how they can entertain and/or affect others reading their content. For this analysis, I am supposed to choose 5 new accounts (to me) to follow and watch what they post each day for 4 days. I will go into a little more detail on some of the stories, but I will mainly give highlights, since each account posts multiple times in one day.
Snapchat
I decided to follow National Geographic and NBC News on Snapchat. However, with the new, pointless and useless update Snapchat was happy to give us (when none of us ever wanted anything like this, #bringbacktheoldsnapchat), a lot of the news stories appear on the Discover page, rather than having a news organization post a story in the Story section, where it’s easy to find.
National Geographic posted about a teen smuggling a tiger cub; pink lakes in Australia; lit-up flowers; tiger stats; dogs as stealth weapons; lettuce facts and the Photo of the Day.
NBC has their own “show” on Snapchat, called “Stay Tuned”. They briefly mention multiple stories throughout the whole show. These stories range from a worker at the CDC disappearing and the Parkland security guard to Betsy DeVos launching an investigation of how Michigan State handled Nassar’s case and doctors screening for depression at an early age. In the evening, they also posted about Trump running in 2020 and Parkland survivors going back to school.
Overall, I don’t necessarily believe that news organizations HAVE to have a Snapchat account to post their news. Snapchat is more for sending pictures and quick texts to friends. However, I can see how someone could be bored and want some entertainment, so they go to the Discover page to find some news to quickly scroll through.
I decided to follow ESPN, National Geographic and CNN to see what they post on a mainly picture-based social media platform. Today, ESPN had a “On This Date” post from February 27, 1988, featuring a picture of the first Jamaican bobsled team making history. They posted a picture and quote from Marcus Peters, former CB of the Kansas City Chiefs, defending his former QB & teammate for the Chiefs, Alex Smith. Throughout the day, they posted about a shout out to Serena Williams on billboards; the bottom five teams in the NBA; LeBron James on the NCAA; stats for NBA MVP finalists; weekly player rankings; Lebron James stats and an update on Kristaps Porzingis.
National Geographic began the day by posting a picture of a coyote in the snow at Yosemite, with the caption giving a short description of the coyote. Ciril Jazbec posted a photo of Samburu women teaching in Kenya, and linked the rest of the pictures/stories to his Instagram profile. Other posts include polar bears; orange-roofed escalators in Medellin, Columbia; images from Myanmar; a throwback to the Sandhill crane migration in Nebraska and a rare frozen disaster in Mongolia.
CNN started with a picture from the World Financial Center in China, showing a neat Shanghai skyline, while also writing about how Xi Jinpeng might become the leader of China, thanks to China throwing away term limits on the country’s presidency. Their Instagram story was about the trafficking routes from Nigeria to Europe. Some more of CNN’s posts include the Duchess of Cambridge’s (Catherine) global initiative to promote nursing; swimmers in Strasbourg, France; United Airlines colleagues mourning the death of a Parkland victim; asneak peak at the upcoming Indian festival of Holi and floodwaters in the Midwest due to heavy rains.
I think that having an Instagram is better for news organizations than Snapchat. Instagram is a great place for National Geographic and CNN, as they can share amazing and crucial pictures with their audiences, with links in the captions to their websites for the whole story. ESPN is a good place for Instagram too, as they feature cool videos, photos and graphics for news/updates/entertainment.
Discover
Along with following my two chosen organizations on Snapchat, there can be interesting stories found within the Snapchat Discover section. One article I found was from IGN. It was about the many heroes within Spider-Man’s universe that people have never heard of. I thought it was cool because I am more of a nerd so I enjoy anything that deals with Marvel and DC superheroes.
The other article I found interesting was from Mashable, who compared the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9+ phones to the latest iPhone. They also talked about if screen protectors are truly worth while and the dangers of phone screens breaking.
Screenshots
I decided to screenshot two stories that I found today on Snapchat. The first was the game update of the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants. This is interesting both because the Royals are my team and because it’s an update in Arizona, where Spring Training is being held. This helps me stay in the “know” so I can see how the Royals are doing before the season begins.
The second was a “topic” on Snapchat. It was the snowfall in Rome, Italy. Yes, you read that right: snow in Rome. The last time it snowed in Rome was 2012, but it’s still a very rare occurrence over there. This topic allowed everyone in the vicinity of Rome to add their own Snaps to the Snapchat topic for the world to see.
