Snapchat to separate 'friends' from 'media' posts

Snapchat has not been gaining enough users, especially beyond its core of younger people. Photo / 123RF

Snapchat is separating what friends share and what media organisations publish in an attempt to appeal to a broader range of users.

Users will now see two separate feeds. Before, the visual-messaging app was mixing posts from friends, publishers, celebrities and others, much the way Twitter, Facebook and other rivals continue to do.

Snap CEO Evan Spiege says social media is fuelling fake news because of this content mixing.

"After all, how many times have you shared something you've never bothered to read?" Spiegel wrote on Axios.

Snapchat has not been gaining enough users, especially beyond its core of younger people.

Instead, rival services have managed to copy Snapchat's most popular features and make them available to a broader audience.

This includes Stories, a way to show photo and video snippets that disappear after 24 hours.

Snapchat pioneered it, while Facebook's Instagram popularised it.

With growth stagnant, parent company Snap's stock is down sharply since its initial public offering earlier this year and Spiegel seems determined to set Snapchat apart from its bigger rivals.

"Snapchat began as an escape from social media, where people could send photos and videos to their friends without the pressure of likes, comments, and permanence," Spiegel wrote.