The Oswegonian

The Independent Student Newspaper of Oswego State

DATE

Apr. 20, 2024 

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Snapchat update adds special effects to an ordinary selfie

(Arielle Schunk l The Oswegonian)
(Arielle Schunk l The Oswegonian)

Have you been seeing sparkling rainbows and large heart eyes on all of your friends in their Snapchat stories?  If you haven’t updated the app lately, you might want to because you will see just that.

Snapchat has released new filters called lenses that allow you to transform a simple selfie into a zombie, a wide eyed, or elderly version of yourself.

Sophomore Shane Lenihin expressed a lot of enthusiasm towards the lenses.

“It’s pretty great, it’s pretty awesome, there’s all those funny things you can do with your face”, said Lenihin.

Here, he even shows us how to work the lenses:

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxLQIFgHzVY&feature=youtu.be” width=”1080″ height=”720″]

Another student had a different opinion of the update.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeo6c6MtCgM&feature=youtu.be” width=”1080″ height=”720″]

Hernandez adds that in her opinion the rainbow vomit lenses is the most horrifying.  However, she says “If I had to pick one that I kinda liked it would be the robot one; it’s kind of cool looking”.

(Kaitlin Hernandez l The Oswegonian)
(Kaitlin Hernandez l The Oswegonian)

Broadcasting major, Allif Karim thinks the lenses are “different” and not what he’s used to.  However, he feels that some people are being pretentious about it.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llQBtexKbH0&feature=youtu.be” width=”1080″ height=”720″]

“You can give your friends a good scare right before Halloween” - Allif Karim  (Aliff Karim l The Oswegonian)
“You can give your friends a good scare right before Halloween” – Allif Karim
(Aliff Karim l The Oswegonian)

The lenses are just one of the two new updates that were released.  The other update being the app’s first in-app purchase option.  Offered only in the US, you have the option to pay $0.99 and get three replay’s of someone else’s video or picture that you have already seen.

“If you have the money and you’re gonna use it then it’s really cool”, Lenihin said.

However, you must use your “replay’s” among three different pictures or videos, as you can’t use that replay twice on one picture or video.  Previous to this, users only had the option to use one free replay a day.

Prior to the update, users may have noticed they can no longer see how many seconds the Snapchat story they are viewing is.  Instead, there is simply a small grey circle that gives you an idea of when the user’s story is going to end.

Many are not pleased with this update; Karim thinks that it was a “huge mistake [taking away the seconds] because now I don’t know when I’m opening someone’s Snapchat story how long I have to sit through it”

"The eyes are what freak me out the most" - Kalie Hudson (Kalie Hudson l The Oswegonian)
“The eyes are what freak me out the most” – Kalie Hudson                     (Kalie Hudson l The Oswegonian)
“I've seen that they've been changing one everyday and I hope they keep doing that” - Leah Goodcoff (Leah Goodcoff l The Oswegonian)
“I’ve seen that they’ve been changing one everyday and I hope            they keep doing that”- Leah Goodcoff
(Leah Goodcoff l The Oswegonian)

All of these new features can be found if you download the latest software update from the app store.  For more information on Snapchat’s latest features check out their blog: http://blog.snapchat.com/