Facebook and its products are leaving Snapchat behind their social business dust, but that doesn't mean Snapchat is staying put in terms of development.
The app popular for its ephemeral messages is introducing object recognition filters. What they do, is automatically recognizing things in images, and create filters dedicated to them.
For example, if users take a picture of some food, Snapchat will suggest filters with words like "get in my belly" and "what diet?"
The filters will automatically appear in the users' carousel of filters after they take a photo snap of something within a certain set of categories. These include items at concerts, beaches, pets, sports, and food, according to a Snap spokesperson.
Snapchat also rolls out the ability to suggest relevant borders and filters for users' snaps.
This feature should appeal many advertisers, especially if the feature can be made to recognize individual products and businesses. For example, taking a snap of a franchise logo will give the user discount when buying things on their stores, or taking a picture inside a clothing store will show some dresses on sale.
The feature has the ability to go beyond just user interaction, as it represents growth for the industry outside of Snapchat.
And this comes in line with Snapchat that first patented the idea of contextual filters back in 2015.
While the company is seeking for growth and revenue, which both have been quite not impressive due to competitors blatantly copying its core features, it has already released 'Promoted Stories' and 'Trial AR ads', which it hopes fewer users will skip.
This isn't the first time Snapchat has integrated object recognition into its app. The company already uses this feature to allow users search for certain objects and events in stories. For example, if you search for the word "basketball", Snapchat will find things related to basketball games on other snaps.