Snapchat Discover: will it work?

Snapchat has launched its Discover platform - a new way to present stories to target its young, casual audience.

Mail Online, Vice and Yahoo! News are just some of the nine media organisations partnering up with Snapchat in this venture to tell stories in new ways to entice its users.

It announced the platform saying it'll feature “full screen photos and videos, awesome long form layouts, and gorgeous advertising”.

So we're getting stories on a daily channel served up mainly as looping multimedia content. If you like the taster of a particular story, you can then swipe for more longform content.

I asked the Interhacktives what they thought of the new platform - over Snapchat.

Ben's keen to access a new audience that has so far been hard to reach via traditional mediums.

But Clara is just skeptical.

Doug's annoyed about how the Mail Online - one of the brands initially partnering with Snapchat Discover - is using it to broadcast text-based content from their website, instead of utilising video.

Another Interhacktive who's unconvinced. No reason why though - it's six degrees and Sam's cold.

Is it annoying? Bex isn't sure yet.

This is Edie's eye. She thinks the platform's tucked away on the app and not something people will initially go for.

Emily took a selfie to ask if people will be too busy to take selfies.

Mark's handwriting translates to "it will help my journalism". With video journalism due to get bigger in 2015, the platform could hold some potential.

Slightly better handwriting from Keila. She's unsure whether Snapchat users will engage will news in the app. Her favourite brands using Snapchat so far are National Geographic, People and Yahoo! News - with their blend of video, photo and text.

And Hamza and Nicole are just happy they've got a cookie.

So there you have it - conclusive evidence that we're undecided. While the idea could be cool if organisations can adapt their content to Snapchat's core principle of short, informal multimedia clips, users won't appreciate it if brands try to impose the wrong type of content on an inappropriate platform.

Vice seems like it can - unlike the Mail Online at the moment. Only time will tell if they can adapt to providing news in new, short, multimedia-based formats.