Snapchat has become a content creation tool for Instagram and Twitter

It can be argued that Snapchat ceased to be culturally relevant when Kylie Jenner declared it dead and Rihanna disavowed it. Last weekend, however, it seemed like everyone was downloading again, reopening or trying Snapchat for the first time in years. The cause was two new Snapchat filters, which allow users to view their gender-specific versions by adding traditional male characteristics (beard and short hair) or feminine normative (makeup, long hair and softer complexion).

Filters are spreading quickly everywhere outside of Snapchat. Modified selfies have appeared everywhere on Twitter, Instagram Stories and even Facebook. It immediately became apparent that participating in the fun online trend of this weekend involved downloading Snapchat for a few minutes, the process of recovering a forgotten account and making some selfies to share with friends, but not necessarily to share. on Snapchat.

Instagram Stories has attracted a lot of people from Snapchat, but Snapchat continues to do something that draws people back: offering particularly creative filters. Snapchat is the best platform for content creation, and users use it as a tool to create compelling photos that they can share elsewhere. The same thing happened recently with Snapchat's baby filter, when people posted photos using the filter on Twitter.

According to the website analysis company Similar Web, Snapchat has leapt ahead in the daily ranking of downloads since the gender exchange filters have become a trend. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Sarah Silverman shared their Snapchat pictures on Twitter and Instagram, respectively. Often, people who post their filtered selfies write that they are just Snapchat to post their photos elsewhere. As Roly West, creator of YouTube, tweeted"I'd like Snapchat to come up with these new gender / baby face filters and everyone is downloading it again just to upload the images to Instagram."

While the growth of its users is at a standstill, Snapchat is in no way dead. Snap relies on such moments to encourage people to use its application rather than the almost identical features offered on all Facebook properties. The question that remains is how long people will stay after a new filter attaches them. It's unclear if people spend time on Snapchat once they've reconnected, or if they just use the filters to take selfies, save those pictures and leave. .

There are many reasons why people might want to share photos of themselves on Instagram instead of Snapchat. The user interface of the platform belonging to Facebook is much more enjoyable to use and easier to navigate. It also makes it easy to keep track of friends, influencers and celebrities. It's likely that people you know use Instagram more often than Snapchat. The number of active users of Instagram Stories is more than three times the size of Snapchat's monthly user base.

Where Snapchat regularly beats Instagram, these are fun filters. Instagram has a number of filters that make you look great (thanks to Kylie Jenner's lip filter), but the darker effects do not work as well as Snapchat's. When big trends such as gender filters appear and everyone wants to feel part of a fast movement, it's essential to reinstall or download Snapchat, even if it's not than to share on Twitter a few dozen likes and compliments.

Instagram has become a must-have social app for your friends, alongside sites like Twitter and Facebook. But none of these apps can create moments around filters in the same way as Snapchat, which brings curious people looking to kill a few minutes and feel part of something that is happening. now. This is true even when said filters are problematic and extremely damaging for a whole community of people.

Snapchat still has 186 million daily users, many of whom are teenagers. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the perception of the use of the application by many people has changed. They will continue to reinstall or reconnect from time to time whenever a new filter appears on Twitter and Instagram, but they will not necessarily post their contributions to the trend only on Snapchat. We will know that something fun is happening on Snapchat because our friends have alerted us – via Instagram stories and fun tweets.