Rihanna calls out Snapchat for ad that makes light of domestic violence

Snapchat just keeps making things worse for itself. The latest controversy it finds itself in involves an offensive ad that had Rihanna taking to her Instagram Story to call out its competition. The ad for the smartphone game called Would You Rather appeared on the service over the weekend asking users if they’d rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown, which is seen as a thinly veiled reference to the infamous 2009 incident where Brown violently assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

Snapchat has pulled the ad and apologized saying, “The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines.” The service says they’ve blocked the app as an advertiser and that the game isn’t affiliated with the service and that it supports the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the group’s executive vice president sits on Snapchat’s Safety Advisory Board. But the singer is having none of it saying in her Instagram Story, “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!”

Source: The Verge

Snapchat borrows from Instagram this time, tests mention tagging to Stories

This time around, Snapchat is taking cues from Instagram and is letting users tag their friends in their Stories. When someone is tagged on the social network, it works similar to how Instagram implements this. Viewers can tap on the link and a new menu shows up that links to that user’s information and you can be given the option to add said user. The difference though is there is no autofill, so you’ll need to remember your friend’s Snapchat username and they won’t be alerted if they get tagged. Snapchat confirms they are trying out this feature and there is no official word yet about when it’s going to be available for all users.

Source: The Verge

Snapchat might be bringing Stories to the web

Snapchat is looking to snap up more users or at least encourage its existing user base to do use its service more. It’s being reported that the social network is working on bringing its Stories Everywhere to the web or on other apps. It’ll be an embedded web player that would help increase exposure to snaps and hopefully encourage people to download the app or at least watch content from the service. Snapchat has been struggling to attract new users, so it needs to extend beyond its walls. If there’s any truth to these rumours, it’ll give them an advantage over Facebook and Instagram since both don’t offer embedded stories just yet. But with Facebook known to quickly copy Snapchat features, we aren’t sure if that advantage will last long. Snap is refusing to comment on the report.

Source: Engadget

Facebook tests out Snapchat-like streaks feature

Facebook has on numerous occasions copied features from Snapchat both for its main app and its other properties (like Instagram and WhatsApp). That behaviour continues with the new feature the social network is trying out. This time, it’s copying the feature that has kept Snapchat users, particularly its teen user base, engaged: streaks. These streaks or having continues back and forth direct snaps with friends come with emoji rewards and have had Snapchat users obsessively trying to keep it going for as long as they can.

Facebook confirmed it’s testing this feature out in Messenger, complete with emoji-like icons and a counter that shows how long the streak is going. According to a spokesperson for Facebook, they are testing out the feature "to see at a glance fun facts about the people you message with. For example, a lightning bolt may appear next to the name of a person you've messaged with for at least three days in a row, and a counter will indicate how many consecutive days you've been chatting. We're interested to see if people enjoy this insight, but we don't have any additional information to share at this time." Now, whether this is something users would want, we can’t say. What we do know is this is Facebook’s way to keep users (hopefully) engaged.

Source: Mashable