Snapchat added a new feature designed to encourage repeat visits to locations listed on the Snap Map with the app’s place loyalty badges, which celebrate the places each user visits most frequently.
So if you really liked Foursquare, this is for you.
The loyalty badges will showcase places on a map where a user is the top visitor, based on activity, which could make this another competitive, compulsive in-app feature, similar to Snap Streaks.
As explained by Snapchat: “Place Loyalty highlights when you’re among the most frequent visitors to a place on Snap Map over the past year. Loyalty is determined by visits, and if you’re in the top 25% of Snapchatters who visit that place, you’ll see your ranking.”
Snapchat will award gold, silver and bronze badges for the top visitors to key locations, showcasing the people who regularly return to the same spot.
“Are you a Gold-tier regular at your local café? A Silver-level airport pro? Now you’ll know,” Snapchat said.
These badges will not be publicly viewable on the Snap Map, but will instead only be displayed to individual users. However, top visitors will be able to generate a shareable sticker they can post in the app in order to showcase their leadership positions.
Which could make it a competitive element, even without a public display of top visitors.
Though it could also be a concern for stalkers, or anyone looking to track where somebody might be in the app. Snapchat, as always, is being careful with this, and only allowing people to view their own top spot ranking, sharing that with their friends if they choose. But if this information were to be re-shared with somebody outside a user’s circle, it could also be problematic.
It’s unclear whether the potential engagement benefits outweigh the concerns. But Snapchat clearly sees value in it, and it might also enable Snap to provide more data to brands on visitors, based on more users enabling location tracking for this element.
Underlining the new feature, Snapchat has also shared listings of the most visited locations in L.A. and New York, highlighting where these badges will be displayed.
It seems like a minor competitive element, but Snapchat clearly believes that this will help to drive visits, which could help it then drive more brand engagement activity.
