You might last year Snapchat rolled out one of its creepier features to date ‘Snapchat Maps’ Well it seems in the most recent update to the app it’s trying again with its send and request location feature.
The previous feature ‘Snapchat Maps’ allowed users the ability to broadcast their location to all of your contacts. This new feature works slightly differently than the previous version.
How does it work
In order to share the location which with another user which you are friends with on Snapchat all you need to do is press & hold on the person in your contacts or messages by holding down you will see the following 2 new options;
• Request Location
• Send My Location
Once you ‘Send your location’ the other person will get a notification via a message and once they open the message they simply tap on the map image which opens up Snapchat Maps and they can see the location.
The difference with this feature according to a report in Tech Crunch ‘It only works with bi-directional friends, so you can’t ask for the spot of your favourite Snap star if they don’t follow you back, and you can turn off getting requests in your settings if people are spamming you’
If you do decide to share your location with another Snapchat user, it will only work for 8 hours after you last opened the app but you can cancel their access at any time by going into ghost mode which will remove your location from the map.
Note – In order for you to share your location for the first time you will have to come out of ‘Ghost Mode’ which could mean your location is available for other friends to see on Snapchat Maps
Possible areas for concern..Still
As we discussed in the previous Snapchat Maps blog post, Stalking, threatening, bullying, unwelcome visitors, opportunistic adults, relationship control, vulnerable children and young people revealing their locations, not to mention adults as still all areas of concern even with this feature.
If a Snapchat user has been accepting friend’s requests from people, they don’t know and decide to share their location with someone this could place them in potential danger. As pointed out by UK Safer Internet Centre advice for kids ‘It is important to be careful about who you share your location with, as it can allow people to build up a picture of where you live, go to school and spend your time’.
When using any app or social media website it’s important for children and young people to remember that not everyone is who they say. Be careful about who you accept friend’s requests from on Snapchat. If you are a Parent or Guardian and are reading this post use it as an opportunity to have a conversation about the dangers associated with sharing your location
Before we wrap up something else we noticed that when we were testing this new feature on iOS once we disabled ghost mode our location was available on Snapchat Maps again plus we could see the actual location of others who are we are friends with on the app…So perhaps not that much different from the previous warning on ‘Snapchat Maps’
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Wayne Denner is a speaker, author and expert on Online Reputation and Wellbeing. Wayne helps young people protect and improve their digital presence. Visit waynedenner.com for more information.
