Snapchat update lets Stories spread via text, email, even Facebook

Sending and viewing snaps isn't just for Snapchat anymore. No, we're not talking about jumping ship to Instagram Stories. 

On Tuesday, Snap introduced an un-Snapchat-like move that allows users to send links of Snapchat Stories for viewing outside of the Snapchat app. This change means anyone — not just Snapchat users — can see snaps from celebrities, media partners, and some everyday users via desktop and mobile thanks to a new web player. 

So, yeah, forget about Snapchat being just for the kids on Snapchat. Anyone can see what's happening on Snapchat, at least from publicly shared snaps. The move opens up Snapchat in a way that's similar to Twitter introducing embedded tweets in 2011 and Facebook with embedded posts in 2013. Media companies, for example, could use embeddable Stories to share Snapchat's exclusive footage from breaking news events, which is one of Snap's big bets. The links do disappear after 30 days, however.  Read more...