Snapchat launches Spotlight tool in bid to take on TikTok

Snapchat has become the latest social media app to introduce a new feature to help it compete with Chinese sensation TikTok.

The California-based company has unveiled Spotlight, a new section of the app that will allow users to share videos with a wider audience.

Users will now see an option to share their video in the Spotlight section when they have filmed  a clip using the app. When Spotlight has been selected Snapchat will then show it to a number of users, the more interaction with the clip the more people the video is then shown to.

As an incentive, Snapchat is giving away more than $1m (£748,000) every day until the end of the year to users that create the most-engaged snaps on Spotlight. Users must be 16 and over to be considered for the funds, the company said.

A spokesperson for the company said the idea for Spotlight emerged in response to increasingly seeing short form video content on other sites created using the Snapchat camera. Spotlight aims to stop users posting Snapchat content on TikTok, for instance, to reach more viewers. 

Due to Snapchat’s focus on the camera, the company expects Spotlight Snaps to be more authentic and unfiltered, in comparison to the polished clips seen on competitor apps. 

Users aren’t able to post public comments section on Spotlight snaps and profiles will be set to private by default.

A Snapchat spokesperson said that the company has also hired a team of moderators to help prevent the spread of false information, misinformation and hate speech on the Spotlight platform. 

Users will see the feature in the UK and Ireland from Monday. 

It is the latest move by a social media company to battle against the runaway popularity of ByteDance’s TikTok app, which has accumulated around 800 million users. 

The Chinese app has been widely praised for its highly-addictive algorithm that encourages people to spend longer engrossed in the app.

Snap’s user trajectory since its IPO

Snapchat itself has had many of its own features used on other sites. Most recently, Twitter unveiled its disappearing “fleets” feature that closely resembles Snapchat’s “Stories” feature. Stories have also been rolled out on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Content on Spotlight will be moderated by a mix of humans and AI before it reaches 100 views. Videos will not be distributed further unless it passes moderation, the company said.

"Spotlight shines a light on the most entertaining Snaps created by the Snapchat community, no matter who created them," the app’s parent company Snap said.

"We built Spotlight to be a place where anyone’s content can take centre stage — without needing a public account or an influencer following.”

In August, Facebook launched a TikTok competitor of its own called “Reels”, which was housed in Instagram. The short-form video app aims to slow down the massive growth reported by its Chinese rival.

Earlier in the month, it was reported that Snapchat also acquired Voisey, an app that allows musicians to collaborate with one another.