When Snapchat removed the ability to see users’ best friends, there was something of an uproar. The feature was a social status indicator—it created coveted friendships within the vast community of teen Snapchatters.
Being “old,” I can’t personally speak to its importance, but I’ve come to understand it as the digital version of wearing those half-heart necklaces that say “friends 4 eva.” It was visible, obvious, public, and intimate at the same time.
Yesterday, Snapchat brought best friends back, but it reimagined the entire construct of tiered friendships with its relationship emoji. Now, instead of a tiny little icon indicating your closest Snapchat contact, there’s an entire catalog of images that dictate what the people you Snap with mean to you.
https://twitter.com/ohteenquotes/status/585210493389959169
The emoji are fun and cute, as emoji always are, but you can’t add a directory of visual relationship quantifiers without things getting competitive and confusing.
What if the person whom you thought was your best friend actually had the smirk emoji next to your name? What if your significant other has the fire emoji next to his or her ex? What if you have the fire emoji next to your ex?
@iammollymchugh @WilliamTurton omg YES ilu molly
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) April 7, 2015
The emoji update means nothing to casual Snapchat users like me. It’s fun and cute, and we’re moving right along. But for those whose lives revolve around using Snapchat as a major platform for communication, creativity, and socializing—namely, teens—chaos has descended.
https://twitter.com/chrisssy_giama/status/585439686459465731
https://twitter.com/hellahotwings/status/585439735902003201
https://twitter.com/_OliviaSmart/status/585437754588266496
snapchat lettin you know who bae is and if you are bae’s bae
— chadwick (@daschadwick) April 7, 2015
Snapchat revealing a lot about my friends’ personal lives. @starbelly_ @ZorpTheLizrdGod @Taferguson34 pic.twitter.com/k1HGcx08EI
— Carlos (@carlosiswhat) April 7, 2015
https://twitter.com/PrincessaPeru/status/585449748523548672
A certain competitiveness has also emerged.
https://twitter.com/sxgglets/status/585429204688314368
https://twitter.com/Baileysloan88/status/585439907738333186
Other complaints stem from the fact that Snapchat got it wrong.
https://twitter.com/kayweiners/status/585438003847438336
https://twitter.com/Shorty_Spice/status/585436566849507328
when someone you dont talk to is your best friend on snapchat pic.twitter.com/zIuShcvEBh
— chill fam (@kunkymatt) April 7, 2015
https://twitter.com/crystalgamueda/status/585448861176475651
It’s not all overwhelming negativity, though. Teens have also expressed curiosity and even approval at their emoji-based relationship assignments.
https://twitter.com/mad_meets_world/status/585437137199300609
https://twitter.com/asanted21/status/585247776268660737
https://twitter.com/socheekie/status/585440038252584960
The age of FOMO is officially over. From now on it will be Snapchat emoji envy and outing that causes Internet-age friendship anxiety.
It’s funny how an app that emphasizes disappearing messages and secret conversations has become the great relationship-outer of our time.
So much for ephemerality.
https://twitter.com/NicholasAston/status/585438050177654785
Illustration by Max Fleishman
