Snapchat, a popular photo sharing social media platform, is known for making frequent updates to their app resulting in a variety of mixed reactions from users. It may be news to some people that the amount of anger about the newest redesign has resulted in petitions to have it changed back to the old layout. On www.change.org, there are over three pages of petitions demanding for the return of the old layout. And while I totally understand the anger people have toward the update, I have recently come to the realization that it isn’t really that bad.

I have to admit, when the update came along, I really disliked it. I personally didn’t know that a major update was scheduled to happen, so it was a very drastic change to turn on my phone one morning, notice my app had updated, and no longer know how to use something I had been using for 6 years. It took me about a week to learn how things worked in the new design. During my frustration in trying to learn how to use Snapchat again, I read some articles reviewing it. I agreed with a majority of the angry reviewers, until I saw this.

Snapchat released a statement about their new update and why they did what they did. Their main goal was to separate friends from unwanted content. They thought that by swiping to your chats and putting friend’s stories there, a clear separation is made from swiping to the Discover page with the  other content. When I heard that, I began to appreciate the update a little more.

While I share the same feeling that some others have about the separation of friends and content ruining the connection people felt with celebrities they follow on Snapchat, I see where Snapchat is coming from.

The company was trying to do something new and give their users what they had asked for. I feel like the update could’ve been introduced better. Perhaps, rather than changing everything at once, Snapchat could’ve changed things gradually, allowing users to adjust, rather than having to relearn everything. The most important thing is how the main concept of Snapchat has remained the same. While some of the extra, new features may be different, I’m glad I can still send snaps to my friends like nothing has changed. Maybe we just need to give the new Snapchat a chance.