Snapchat update: That's why I'm against the new design
A COLUMN of David Wurm 
on February 15, 2018, 15:24 p.m. | 5 comments | Note: Column - More
The new Snapchat design has been around for almost 5 months now, but the rollout has been slow. Now, earlier this week, the company distributed the new Snapchat update across Europe. But this backfired pretty much. But why? My comment.
Initial situation: After the slowly increasing number of users in contrast to the competition, such as Instagram, a Redesign bring a new wind to the app. But now the action seemed to have backfired. Many users are annoyed by the new design and want the old version back. Now there are even petitions against the update. But more on that below.
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Annoying sorting of chats and stories by AI
Let's start with the biggest innovation. The new version of Snapchat sorts all chats and stories using artificial intelligence. This should use habits to find out who interacts with which user the most and thus adjust the order of the content. So every time the overview is updated in Snapchat, the entire view is re-sorted. It is precisely this setting of the order by an AI that is annoying not only for me, but for many others. So you can suddenly find friends at the bottom, but they have just been displayed at the top. This sorting of content when you reopen or update the app is already known from Facebook. Here, too, it bothers a lot. If you scroll through any content and open the app again after a while, everything is gone.
Why away from chronological?
A trend that not only Snapchat is jumping on with the latest version update, but also many other apps, is the omission of chronological sorting. I already mentioned how Snapchat deals with this above. But why does that have to be? In almost no app you will find more content sorted by time. After Facebook abolished traditional sorting in the feed for the first time in 2016, Instagram followed in 2017 with an algorithm for sorting in the feed. Now Snapchat too.
But where does that lead? Will WhatsApp now also use artificial sorting according to relevance as the next app? As early as 2018, we have already had less and less influence on the content that we see. An algorithm always describes something as relevant or not. Okay, back to the topic.
Content from friends and editorial offices now separated
In addition, the developers are dividing Snap into two new areas. On the left you can find the friends overview and the related stories. If these stories were earlier on the right, you can now find selected articles from the editorial team and stories from other personalities (stars, YouTubers, etc.) instead. However, since this content is almost exclusively designed to be clicked - “clickbait” - instead of really informing, most users find it irrelevant and rather annoying. But there is hope: editorial offices in German-speaking countries should be able to actively contribute to these stories in the future.
Pro Second another user against the new update
In einer Online Petition Over a million users have already signed up to withdraw the update. Another user signs almost every second. The minds behind Snapchat have not yet really commented on the criticism. The company is just supposed to face that Guardian have emphasized that, as always, it would take some getting used to before a relaunch. It is therefore very unlikely that you will ever see the old design again.
In summary, the developers have made a certain amount of modernization with the update, but have left the clarity pretty much out of the picture. The battery consumption has also increased quite a bit with the update. Except for the noticeably better performance compared to before, I just couldn't get used to the relaunch.
What do you think of the new update? More annoying or okay? Let me know below.
What do you think of the new update? You already know my opinion about it. Your opinion is asked!
i thinks ah ned suppa. My Gagsi is now gor nimma
I just think the update is terrible.!
I would rate the new update as one of the worst yet. In addition, it made my cell phone even slower.
That's exactly why I don't use Snap 😛