We’re beginning to test a new introductory experience in limited markets for older teens on Snapchat ages 16 and 17 who are interested in sharing content they create with a wider audience. Informed by feedback from  our community, older teens will be able to post content to a new publicly viewable content page within their profile built with thoughtful protections in place. These capabilities will be rolling out slowly to our community. 

How posting content is different for Snapchatters 16+:

On Snapchat there are two primary ways to post: our signature Story format and with short-form Spotlight videos. 

Now Snapchatters who are 16+ and want to share their creativity can post a public Story or share a video to Spotlight with attribution back to their publicly viewable content page within their profile that has extra safeguards in place. There, they can save their Stories and Spotlights to showcase their favorite posts. 

We offer Snapchatters control over each piece of content they create with intentional posting options that let them determine where each Snap is shared, who can see it, and if it is saved to their profile. On Snapchat, it is always more than a one-time choice to simply be public or be private. 

We’ve built in strict guardrails helping these older teens get introduced to what it means to post content publicly in a responsible manner:

• Designed for engagement from real friends: By default, all Snapchatters can only communicate directly with their mutually accepted friends or contacts saved in their phone. With public-posting options, older teens are able to receive Story replies on their public Stories from those who follow them, but cannot engage in direct chat conversations from those replies. Replies are filtered before they reach the creator – and that filtering is even stricter for Snapchatters ages 16 and 17. Snapchatters even have the option to turn off replies all together, or to block various terms to help them keep interactions respectful and fun. These Story replies from those who follow them are kept completely separate from Snapchatters' private conversations in their chat feed, and we have additional protections to help prevent content shared publicly from being a vector for unwanted friend requests from adults outside of a teens real friend network.  

• Limited distribution: Public Stories from 16- and 17-year olds will only be recommended to Snapchatters who are already their friends or followers, and to other Snapchatters with whom they share mutual friends. These public Stories are not distributed to the wider community in “Discover,” the section of our app where Snapchatters find a personalized viewing experience with content that’s relevant for them.

• Minimal metrics: Snapchatters ages 16 - 17 will not see how many people “favorited” their Stories or Spotlights, keeping the focus on creativity over pressure to collect public approval metrics. 

• Proactive review: We understand that older teens may need an introduction to Snapchat’s Content Guidelines, and we want to protect Snapchatters from posting something they might not have thought through thoroughly. We proactively moderate Spotlight videos using both human and machine review before they can be recommended widely.

• Parental tools: Soon, in Family Center, our in-app parental tools hub, parents will be able to see if their 16- and 17-year old teens have an active public story or have saved any content publicly to their page. This new feature is designed to help families have important conversations about what it means to share content publicly, and discuss what is right for them. 

Today, posting content publicly – whether it’s a new job update, or Snaps from a recent family vacation – is a common part of our everyday experience. We know there is a tremendous appetite from young people to participate in the broad digital discourse, and to share their voice, creativity, and talents. 

We want to empower that self-expression with thoughtful tools for Snapchatters ages 16+ that uphold our commitment to maintaining the highest safety and privacy standards and we will continue to improve this experience based on learnings from our testing.