Snapchat launched a new feature called Snap Map on Wednesday.
Snap Map lets you see where your friends are Snapchatting from. It's easy to access and available on the iPhone version of Snapchat now. Here's a quick look at how it works and what you can do with it.
Here's the main Snapchat screen. I just pinch the screen to bring up Snap Map.
This is Snap Map. You can see Snaps from all over the world -- just zoom out to view more. There's a heat map where lots of activity is happening.
I tapped the Bronx Zoo Snapchat. Look at the animals.
A swipe down brings you back to the Snap Map.
Not much going on near my colleagues in San Francisco.
I can check out the Paris Air Show, though!
Looks fun. That's a big plane.
If I tap the settings icon I can choose who can view my location, or turn it off entirely.
I can see why this might be appealing to Snapchat users who might want to tune in to peek at a live event, like a concert or to see what's happening during a disaster.
On the other hand, I'm not quite sure what this does that other options like Periscope or Facebook's live videos don't offer. In this case, it seems like Snapchat is the one lagging behind other companies.
Perhaps Snapchat's plan is to keep its users inside the app instead of relying on those services, though.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.
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