Snapchat has the best of all worlds – including social networks, magazines, and television – all in one need and redesigned package.

The omni-entertainment app wants to highlight the Discover channels and the Live stories included on the Stories page, so it released an update. Many users ignore this section of Snapchat, but thanks to the new features, more eyes will check out the content and help increase publisher’s traffic.

If you have the latest version of Snapchat, you will see headline and image previews of the content where the Discover and Live sections were, instead of just the publishers’ logos or the events they capture.

Swiping right to the Discover page now shows a Pinterest-style grid of tiles, while the Stories page has turned into one scrollable row of content from non-friends.

Also, you no longer have to search for your favorite Discover channels through the whole list; if you tap-and-hold, you can subscribe to them so they move over to Recent Stories. You will always see their new stories next to other accounts you’ve added unless you want to unsubscribe later.

The update represents a new call to action to publishers to invest in their Discover channels and marketing. Snapchat’s goal is to make community-curated and professionally-made content just as appealing to users as what their friends share on the app.

Compared to the Stories you see from friends – who are fascinating because of their flaws and imperfectness – Discover channels seemed rather locked in and overly polished. Before the dynamic previews, the buttons for different publishers looked the same each day and weren’t very attractive.

The changes to the Discover page were previously reported by VentureBeat and Recode. Now, publishers should be more interested in building their Snapchat channels, because the business has just turned more lucrative.

Even though fixed channel buttons might have reduced production costs and rent space in Snapchat, eye-catching peeks are worth the while. They nudge users to look at what’s inside, making them more willing to watch the combination of text articles, videos, images, and ads.

Since the ad revenue is split between Snapchat and publishers inside the Discover section, the company stands to earn money from driving them more viewership.
Image Source: Design Trend