Snapchat Discover Review

Growing up in the age of technology, Snapchat has proven to be a main source of entertainment for my generation. It started as a way to send a silly selfie every once in awhile but developed into a form of mass communication within a few years, enlisting several news outlets and fashion magazines to share their top stories in a feature called “Snapchat Discover.”

Snapchat originally added their Discover feature in early 2015, with just 11 magazine and website participants, such as Vice and National Geographic. Now, over 50 participants have launched a Discover, with new ones being established every few weeks. Discovers are only available on the app for 24 hours and refresh with new handpicked stories by 8 a.m. every day. Users can subscribe to the Discovers of their choice to have them featured on the same screen as their Snapchat Stories with a click of a button, making catching up on current events just another step in your social media routine.

Cosmo

No, I haven’t tried Kim K’s new butt workout, and no, I don’t want to participate in whatever a “Pumpkin Spice Scavenger Hunt” is, but I will, however, wake up every Monday morning to read my weekly horoscope on Cosmopolitan’s Discover. Cosmo is one of the original Discovers, generally consisting of a mix of gifs, “would you rather” questions and articles that don’t really mean anything to anyone but the celebrities in them.

Cosmo is the first Discover that I started to read regularly, and it’s not for the boyfriend quizzes or pictures of Zac Efron at the grocery store, but for the animations of puppies wearing sunglasses that can really take your mind off of parabolas during math class. Besides the occasional article about kidnapping survivors or abandoned pets, Cosmo’s Discover is lighthearted and full of youth. If you could look up “teenagery” in a dictionary, Cosmo’s Discover would be the definition.

ESPN

Sure, I can carry on a text conversation about the Chiefs game that’s on TV, but do I give a flying flip about recent NBA trades or who is injured on Montreal’s hockey team? NOPE. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Jayhawks (Rock Chalk!) but that is about as far into sports I know. ESPN’s Discover does a nice job of expanding my minimal knowledge of current sports news and is the only reason why I know Brandon Marshall is out for the rest of the football season.

ESPN’s Discover is unique to other Discovers because it is 90% videos, which I enjoy, but it is riddled with sports lingo that doesn’t always ring a bell to me. After all, it’s easier to watch a video of a play after a touchdown than read a headline about a two-point conversion (whatever that means). The past few weeks, ESPN’s Discover has been filled to the brim with memes about fantasy football and insane highlights from baseball games. ESPN’s Discover is probably useful to someone who spends more time watching SportsCenter than The Office, but it’s always nice to learn something new in the world of sports.

Tasty

“Simple Chocolate Covered Oreo Balls” — tell me more. “Breakfast Burritos That Will Transform Your Morning” — sign me up. I always stop and watch a Tasty video when I’m scrolling through Facebook, so of course I subscribed to their Snapchat Discover. Tasty’s Discover is packed with mouth-watering 30-second videos of simple recipes that always leave me wanting a snack. Featured on Tasty’s Discover are videos from every Tasty franchise, from Tasty Junior to Tasty Vegetarian, and many others.

The aesthetically pleasing bird’s eye view and clean layout of ingredients leads me to watch every video from start to finish, even if there happens to be pickles or mushrooms in the recipe – ew! While there are only three to four videos shown every day, I always look forward to seeing what Tasty has in store.

Mashable

Mashable’s Discover is the king of technology life hacks. Just by swiping through one time I learned that my Mail app on my phone is the biggest culprit of my ever-draining phone battery and that turning my phone sideways on the calculator app will turn it into a scientific calculator. Useful, right?

I keep coming back to Mashable’s Discover because it’s a welcomed switch from the Kardashians and beauty life hacks. This is one of the few Discovers that adults would have any interest in, but it is still targeted towards teens with a heavy use of emojis and animations. Mashable’s Discover offers a daily mix of videos, gifs, illustrations and articles relating to the most up-and-coming technology and high tech rumors about next year’s iPhones.

Refinery29

Makeup tips for the current season and graphics of cats flood my phone screen on Refinery 29’s Snapchat Discover. Refinery29 is traditionally a fashion, style and beauty website that follows a newsletter format. Although it takes on a much more indie vibe, Refinery29 is similar to Cosmo, and it hits all the same bases when it comes to celebrity gossip and if you’re actually allowed to wear white after Labor Day or not.

One of my favorite features on Refinery29’s Discover is a segment called “short cuts” which shows a 15 second tutorial on an extravagant makeup look. Not that I’d ever want to leave the comfort of my home with pumpkin orange eyelids and green lips on any given day, but it’s fun to see what different people can pull off. Refinery29’s Discover was launched in October of 2015, and has been a favorite of mine ever since I first read about the unveiling of Pantone’s colors of the year in 2016.