San Francisco (AFP)

The Snapchat application launched on Thursday a series of new tools and improvements aimed at encouraging its young users to spend more and more time on its platform, to convince brands that this is where they can reach their consumers.

In the United States, "we reach more people than Twitter and TikTok combined", assured the boss of the network, Evan Spiegel, during a press conference.

He is also pleased to have reached more people in the key segment of "13-34 years" in the United States than Facebook or Instagram in the first quarter.

To capitalize on its young audience, Snapchat relies heavily on its camera and on "lenses" or augmented reality filters, which allow you to wear cat whiskers, vampire teeth or lipstick.

Users will now be able to go directly to the app to find filters, saying "Hey Snapchat, make my hair pink!" or "Hey Snapchat, take me to the moon!", modeled on voice assistants.

"The camera will become the heart of how we communicate with our friends, how we learn, how we work," said Carolina Arguelles, director of marketing for augmented reality at Snapchat, in an interview with AFP.

Unclassified, the keyboard. The world is perceived through its smartphone, especially if this world in question can be scanned by the application.

- Immersion -

In recent years, "we have made behaviors linked to the camera, and we have an audience that uses this camera on a large scale, every day," elaborates Carolina Arguelles.

The scanning tool, based on artificial intelligence, now recognizes dog breeds, certain monuments and soon food products, to learn more about their nutritional qualities.

It also displays "immersive experiences" for Snapchat client brands, such as Louis Vuitton.

The ghost logo app had more than 229 million active users daily in the first quarter.

Facebook, for its part, has 2.36 billion people who use at least one of its platforms every day (the main network, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger).

As with Facebook, the business model of Snapchat is based on large-scale targeted advertising, and therefore depends on the time spent by its users on its various services, as well as possible interactions with businesses.

Last year, in addition to communication features, Snapchat launched original series and exclusive video games. The app adds content on Thursday, in particular thanks to new partnerships (Disney, NBA, etc.).

"The time spent watching shows more than doubled in a year in the first quarter, with 60+ shows reaching over 10 million viewers in one month," said Evan Spiegel.

- Reviewed and approved -

But the popular social network among teens and young adults not only wants to distract them, it also intends to inform them and contribute to their well-being.

For example, he presented a new information format, called "Happening Now", which is intended to be the "fastest" way for users to "consume" the news of the day, powered by The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, American channels and other media.

If ever the news of the world were too depressing, the "Snapchatters" can fall back on guided meditations or send messages of encouragement.

Snapchat has also accelerated the deployment of resources for emotional and physical issues, from the stress of Covid-19 to anxiety and harassment.

On the innovation side, its filter creation software, Lens Studio, now welcomes developers with their own machine learning models - enough to create even more sophisticated "lenses".

But the creative and tangy universe of the application does not protect it from current political controversies.

Filters created this way will have to be "reviewed and approved," the company said at a press conference.

"We will look in particular at whether there is an intention to mislead or misinform, and we will closely examine the implications of these new tools," said a spokesperson.

© 2020 AFP