Snapchat’s newest face-swapping filter (brands beware!)

By Rose Tantraphol

If you’re over 25, chances are that you roll your eyes when you hear about how popular Snapchat is. If you’re under 25, you’re probably too busy keeping up with DJ Khaled’s Apple Ciroc-fueled, major key adventures to notice all the chatter.

I’m a touch past my quarter-life crisis, but because I am storyteller at heart, I am inherently interested in this form of communication. Since I run a communications and capacity-building agency, I also need to stay on top of what brands are doing. These days, the brands clamoring for Snapchat eyeballs include the likes of newcomer Wall Street Journal, which joins ESPN, BuzzFeed, National Geographic and a host of others in paying to promote content via Snapchat Discover.

A brand new feature hot off Snapchat’s innovation lab is the face-swapping feature. What ever will brands do with it? It remains to be seen, but what’s critical is that users go gaga over features like this. It’s the kind of feature-inspired excitement that established platforms such as Twitter and Tumblr have lately been criticized for lacking. And when there’s no new innovation, there’s not growth for a platform’s base of users. Without that, it’s a challenge to breathe momentum into monetization efforts.

Snapchat is unstoppable right now, and in fact this week announced it would use Nielsen for ad-tracking, which will only serve to bring in more advertisers. (It’s been a busy week for Snapchat. If you follow our social media accounts, you also saw that Snapchat introduced the birthday lens and on-demand geofilters.)

So, for all of you who are 25, you already know this and should get back to”Damn, Daniel!” or DJ Khaled. If not, see how #TeamMoonsail’s Katie Stiefel sets us up for a face swap. (Note: If you’ve never used Snapchat before, be warned that this takes a little patience to get started.)

Setting it up

Setting up Snapchat's face swap

Letting the filter do its job

Moonsail North Snapchat

So creepy, don’t you think?

But it builds community. Katie and I have spent way too much time this afternoon laughing over this. In the few short hours that this filter has been released, even those without a snapping buddy have gotten into the face swap game.

Pro-tip: Snapping in a museum

Even creepier than swapping faces with another human being would be . . .

There you have it. Tell us how much time you lose over the weekend to this!

P.S. — If you don’t already, add Moonsail North (username: moonsailnorth) and yours truly (username: thecuriousrose) on Snapchat.