Is Snapchat Taking Us One Step Closer To The Metaverse?
Since 2015, Snapchat has been an innovator in the augmented reality space. Now, millions are interacting with AR every day and moving beyond single person experiences to shared experiences.
Snap Inc, the developer of Snapchat, positions itself as a camera company with a mission to “improve the way people live and communicate” by “reinventing the camera”. Founded in 2011, the company has experienced ups and downs over the years but is currently riding a wave of success, thanks, in part, to augmented reality (AR).
On 20th October, Snap Inc announced its third-quarter financial results. Daily active users had increased 18% year-over-year to 249 million and revenue increased 52% year-over-year to $679 million. In a press release, Evan Spiegel, CEO said:
“Our focus on delivering value for our community and advertising partners is yielding positive results during this challenging time. We’re excited about the growth of our business in Q3 as we continue to make long-term investments in our future. The adoption of augmented reality is happening faster than we had previously anticipated, and we are working together as a team to execute on the many opportunities in front of us.”
Snapchat was one of the earliest adopters of augmented reality in social media with the release of Lenses back in 2015. With this new feature, users could take a selfie, and then choose one of several face filters — including a popular lens that made it look like you were vomiting a rainbow — to bring their snaps to life.
Since then, the company has been improving its lenses every year by enhancing the technical capabilities and strengthening its dev platform. The result is that today, more than 170 million people — over three-quarters of Snap’s daily active users — access the app’s augmented reality features on a daily basis, the company says. Snapchat’s momentum shows no signs of stopping as it’s innovation in the AR space continues.
Lens Studio Update
Snap recently launched an update to Lens Studio, the company’s free AR creation tool that enables creators to build a lens and publish it to Snapchat. The update allows users to build LIDAR powered Lenses for the new iPhone 12 Pro models. You can read more on LIDAR in our article here, but in essence, the technology will enable a whole new level of creativity for augmented reality.
The Lens Web Builder
In March, a new ad product was introduced to Snapchat to allow brands to create AR lenses through the platform’s Ad Manager. Touted as the “industry’s first web-based AR lens ad production tool”, the product aims to make high-quality AR advertising accessible and impactful for any business. The DIY Lens Web Builder allows brands to choose from various 3D objects, animations, and effects, then add their logo or other images to the filter. The tool is distinct from the Lens Studio, which is intended for more technical 3D developers.
Full-Body Tracking Lenses
For Halloween, Snapchat launched 10 3D full-body tracking lenses across all platforms that were able to track 18 joints on the human body and have the digital model copy the movements of the user. Snap said its 3D full-body tracking technology is the first of its kind to be made publicly available, adding that it works across platforms and can be captured by the front or rear-facing cameras.
Local Lenses
Local Lenses, announced back in June, are an evolution of Landmarkers, which empower creators to build Lenses that transform the world’s most iconic landmarks in real-time. By taking in information from 360-degree images, and Community Snaps, a digital representation of the physical world can be built, and viewed from different viewpoints. Combining this with 3D reconstruction, machine learning, and distributed cloud computing, Snap can now map whole city blocks, rather than just buildings.
In October, Snap launched its first Local Lens on Carnaby Street. The collaborative AR experience, called City Painter, enables Snapchatters to join a persistent shared AR world built on top of the physical one, spray paint buildings, and see other’s creations in real-time.
Qi Pan, senior manager of research engineering at Snap London said: “We have a single shared reality and when you do something to this world, someone else can see that result almost instantly. Those changes also persist if everyone leaves the experience and new people pop up the next day — they can see the space that’s been altered by yourself and others.”
Right now, Snap is in the early implementation stage of its AR space mapping, but we may well see interactive AR experiences coming soon, like a menu overlay when you hover over a restaurant. This will be the next stage of digital engagement with real-world spaces.
The Metaverse—“a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space”—has become a goal for many of the global tech giants. However, while so much of the Metaverse remains unclear, it’s hard to know who will lead or how’ll we’ll eventually get there. Could Snap, with its large and engaged userbase, location-based experiences, AR layers, and glasses, play a key role in ushering in the Metaverse?
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