Snapchat was once seen as a messaging app designed especially for teens and pre-teens. But over the past several years, the social network has added features and made changes that make it attractive to similar producers, celebrities, and influencers to create their own accounts. It has lost its splendour with the advent of Instagram news, as well as the recent unfortunate change in its structure. Compared to other social networks, Snapchat has an ancient search function. It can be difficult to find users unless you know their username. But its still the second most popular social media platform after Instagram.
We have put together a list of the top 10 accounts that are inspirational, educational and useful for students. You will see the content of these accounts are not polished but rather Raw and fun. After all, Snapchat is all about letting your brand personality shine through and relate to your target audience at a completely personal level.
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General Electric (@generalelectric)
Have you ever guessed that General Electric, an international organization, would have a working and active presence on Snapchat? The brand has actually done an amazing job of using its platform to showcase its unique personality and encourage interest in science – something GE has done well on other social media networks like Instagram and YouTube. One of the best ways GE uses the platform is to share its findings from its emoji science curriculum, developed by GE and the National Science Foundation. The company uses quirky snaps to promote science among the student community. The company posts content about aviation, healthcare, renewable energy etc. The company also encourages Snapchat fans to engage directly: “Just add ‘generalelectric’ to Snapchat, send us an emoji, and we’ll send you a science,” wrote GE on its Tumblr.
Warby Parker (@warbyparker)
Warby Parker is an American online retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses, based in New York City. But their Snapchat account is far from that. At Warby Parker, Snapchat is used for a variety of topics: everything from product displays to giving users a chance to hear from company founder Neil Blumenthal as he talks about various inspirational topics and gives a sneak peek on how to run a business. Warby Parker has several Snapchat series, including one called “Desk Job.” In one recent Snapchat story, Warby Parker included one of its creative managers for his highlights. As soon as Snapchat Story is over, the brand promotes them on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. They are not very big on Facebook but are very popular on Snapchat. Students who wish to pursue a career in entrepreneurship will find their account really useful and informative. The inside workings and functioning of the company are given out in small amounts through quirky stories.
The New York Times (@thenytimes)
One of the most infamous media brands in the world, the New York times Snapchat account lives up to the name. Writers, editors, and other people in The New York Times use Snapchat differently – sometimes making fun of their lack of knowledge about the app, sometimes using it as a platform for storytelling (and then analyzing it in writing later). Their stories feature raw, behind the scenes action of their most popular writers and also the quirky and fun things that go on at their offices. The stories also include serious news and short talks about the most important topics going on around the world. The best Snapchat stories generally are ones that tell a narrative in a personal, visual way that pulls in and keeps the viewer. Even Snapchat stories must uphold the same standards as anything else published by The Times. And the account does justice to that.
The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)
The Washington Post uses Snapchat to cover the latest news. In fact, starting this year, the newspaper will begin covering the best news of Snapchat. The Washington Post covers political news and news coverage there, and by sharing Snapchat broadcasts, the paper could give its fans a secret look at what’s happening in Washington much faster than journalists should have written down and published the article. The Washington post effectively uses Snapchat to cover the most important news as soon as possible to its audience and that’s a brilliant way of journalism that a lot of newspapers should adapt. An example of this is a story The Post recently published about the President’s joint address to Congress. The story features narration and captions to explain what’s going on, behind-the-scenes details and includes short video hot-takes with members of Congress that viewers wouldn’t otherwise have access to. In just a few minutes, the Washington Post used Snapchat to cover a story that would require more time to read or watch in the news.
NASA (@nasa)
NASA of course needs no introduction. But you wouldn’t have expected NASA to have a Snapchat account. But they do have one and it’s quite popular too. NASA publishes a series of fun descriptive videos on its Snapchat and makes them fun and easy to follow whether you are a space nut or a regular visitor. It uses Snapchat to cover space-related issues, explain complex concepts and interact with people. For example, in one Snapchat story, NASA is reviewing the return of Astronaut Scott Kelly a year after the end of his one-year career. It also highlighted a new study conducted by NASA based on DNA samples from Kelly and her twin to investigate the operation of long-distance human devices to Mars. NASA also keeps updating its followers with the latest discoveries and innovations in space studies. NASA’s Snapchat account is a gold mine for students pursuing careers in subjects like astrophysics. But they are simple enough to entertain all students too. I mean, who doesn’t want to know what’s happening on Mars?!
Salliasnap (@salliasnap)
Sallia Goldstein, aka @Salliasnap, creates beautiful “painted” art and has turned her attention to being a role model for young girls with an interest in STEM. An engineer during the day and an influencer of Snapchat at night, she performs weekly SalliasScience features, in which she conducts videos and science lessons. She has the gift of taking anything that looks boring like a selfie, visiting a mall, or a biology question, and making it an experience that leaves viewers wanting to see and learn more. In 2015, Pstrong invited Sallia to their studio, where he took pictures and pasted them with dinosaur pictures to produce The Good Dinosaur. Sally’s account is dedicated to science and art which makes it very popular among young students and artists. Every Monday, she hosts a show in which she conducts weird and wacky science experiments which are really fun to watch and highly informative too. The account promotes science in a fun and youthful way and is definitely one of the most fun and informative accounts on this list.
Hubspot (@hubspot)
HubSpot is an American developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. While there are many B2C products that do cool things with Snapchat, very few B2B companies have successfully built the following. Hubspot is on its way to do that with its account launched in March 2016. To make their Snapchat channel relevant, Hubspot uses it to serve as a marketing and hiring channel a place where they can showcase their unique culture and benefits and wonderful staff and incoming philosophy. On the marketing side of Snapchat, Hubspot gives fans a good look within the company and showcase their culture. The goal here is to educate, educate, and appeal. For example, when MTV News Editor Rachel Zarrell (formerly BuzzFeed News) came to HubSpot to talk about viral content, they revealed some of her comments – and what staff think about it later – on Snapchat. This makes the content they post a lot more interactive and creative and appealing to students.
Msuster (@msuster)
Mark Suster is a very popular American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Mark is the founder of two companies and is one of the most successful businessmen in the world. In his Snapchat account, Mark talks everything about business and entrepreneurship. One of Snapchat’s top attorneys, series businessman and communications chief Mark Suster used to publish Snaps about business, marketing, business and investment. For Snapchat users who want an MBA-level education without paying thousands of tuition fees, Mark Suster’s Snapchat account provides real-world, practical advice from someone who has made millions. Mark has a loyal fan following of budding entrepreneurs and even established businessmen who use all of his tips and tricks to boost their own careers.
Whitehouse (@whitehouse)
The official Snapchat account of the residence of the president of the United States provides snippets of the daily life of the most powerful person in the world. The account also provides information about the day-to-day life and activities of all the top officials of the U.S. It shows a fun approachable side of the government while simultaneously keeping their followers up to date on the political happenings of the country. @whitehouse is one of the best Snapchat accounts for people interested in or pursuing a career in politics.
Bustle (@bustledotcom)
Bustle uses its Snapchat channel to produce original or repurposed content in the same style as the content on its website: listicles. Bustle generates a ton of fun and informative lists of content and incorporates instructional videos and lists in a step-by-step format on Snapchat. In one Snapchat story, Bustle creates a Snapchat version of the Black History monthly book list. It echoes the composition of many of its blog-style styles. The summaries are a good touch to elevate the viewer’s interest, too. Merchants can easily create original or reposted content in this Snapchat format. Separate the latest blog posts, give fans advice, or simply record a screenshot of how their organization performs the normal process. It’s unique, attractive, and doesn’t need a creative lifting tone behind it.