Last week, Politico broke the news that veteran CNN political reporter Peter Hamby will be moving over to Snapchat. That’s right, a huge political reporter is leaving an established network slot to tell stories on a social media platform once known for self-destructing sexts.
This is the latest in a series of big moves by the L.A.-based startup. After introducing its Stories feature last year, which allowed users to produce narrative stories that any follower can see for up to 24 hours, Snapchat added a Discover section with content from bigger media companies like Comedy Central, Vice and ESPN.
To make Snapchat great, don’t just follow your friends. There are some great Snapchatters out there, from news sites to comedians. Here are some of our picks. You can add them by opening the Snapchat app and scanning these codes with the camera or searching for their handles.
Casey Neistat is pretty popular on YouTube (you might know his cars-parked-in-bike-lanes video or some of his ads) and he’s got Snapchat down. You can check a few of them out on his dedicated YouTube page, but they’re usually a few days old and don’t have the same intimacy as viewing them on your phone. They’re mostly his day-to-day life, but you can also find plenty of wisdom and even a few other great Snapchatters that he’s friends with.
Jerome Jarre has been hailed as the king of Snapchat. He recently added snaps of his visit to the White House to his daily Story. At times, his stream can be a little too long, but his upbeat attitude is sure to lift up your day.
The Verge tech news site also does a great job using the platform to do fun stuff. For example, social-media manager Sam Sheffer and founding editor Chris Ziegler give you a host of hot takes in the almost-daily session of Beef or Bust. And a semi-regular music segment fits in with the site’s hipster aesthetic.
A host of more traditional news organizations also have compelling Stories to watch while you brush your teeth or wait for the elevator. NPR (nprnews) allows you to put a face to a name with 12-second wrap-ups of the day’s biggest stories. The New York Times (thenytimes) usually turns its account over to a reporter for a day, including Farhad Manjoo’s review of the Apple Watch.
As the 2016 presidential campaign season heats up, this cycle’s social media choice is still up in the air. Facebook was part of the 2008 campaign and Twitter dominated 2012 reporting. With Snapchat hiring one of the best political reporters out there, the 2016 campaign season might just self destruct.
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