Placemaking through mobile social media platform Snapchat

Abstract

In this article, we examine the particular ways that place is configured in and through mobile social media platform Snapchat, and how Snapchat is designed and conceptualized in such a way as to encourage digital placemaking. The position we take in this article is that place is not a thing that is merely recorded through this platform. Rather, place is something that is continually enacted, negotiated and renegotiated across multiple levels of media engagement. In developing this position, we first review the previous research on Snapchat that relates to placemaking. Then, we examine placemaking through two primary lens: Snapchat’s design and Snapchat’s business model. Our argument is that close examination of the place-based materiality and meaning of the Snapchat service for itself and for its clients reveals the interconnected construction and commodification of place through this service.