What is Snaps?

Snaps is one of the microblogging tools on the Hive blockchain. Before the launch of Snaps back in October there were already a couple of other microblogging tools like buzz, Threads, Waves, and Moments. I've tried a few of them before, but since PeakD is my default front-end, an integrated microblogging tool was perfect for me, so I tried it out.
Snaps can be found here:

Microblogging is writing short form content which is stored on the Hive blockchain in the form of comments. Snaps messages have a maximum length of 280 characters.
You can use markup, images, links and polls in your messages.
The comments are stored in a Snaps container and do show up as posts in the Snaps interface.

^{One of my recent snaps}

Why and how do I use snaps?

Because it's easy and fun! Snaps is a great way of sharing 'little things' like something that happened, something you have read, a nice photo you would like to show. All things you don't necessarily have to write a complete blog about.
Since I like photography I often share some photos on Snaps. I also use it to promote my own posts.

Another nice thing about Snaps is that it is a great way to discovering new users. Because the post are short you can check out more of them from different users. I have discovered quite a few new users I had never seen on the blockchain before, which I also started following.
The same goes for the other way around.
There is quite a lot of engagement on the Snaps posts regardless of the network of the user.

And another great thing about Snaps are the rewards. They are quite small, but since you can post multiple Snaps and many comments a day, it really can add up.

The rewards

Snaps are technically seen normal comments, so they can be upvotes as comments too. The PeakD team has implemented a feature (which can be found in the settings) where you can set a default percentage for a vote in Snaps. This makes it able to vote with one click. Since I upvote quite some snaps I have set it to 20% which still gives a $0.07 reward.

The @peakd also have configured 100% @commentrewarder on the Snaps container. This means that all author rewards will be given back to the Snaps they upvote. And those upvotes can be really nice as you can see by the rewards I've received on one single Snaps post that was upvotes by @peak.snaps

Although the rewards are way lower than the rewards on posts they can add up when you're very active in creating Snaps and or commenting on them.
Check out the rewards here: https://peakd.com/snaps/rewards

Here is a screenshot I made of the Top Snaps Author rewards of a single week.

You can see I made roughly $4 in total. $2.9 for 10 Snaps and $1.1 for 27 replies.

Be sure to upvote the Snaps containers, so the amount of tips grows!
This can be done by clicking the grey heart in the lower left corner (web) or upper right corner (mobile).
This can be done on a daily basis!

Some figures

So, Snaps has launched a couple of months ago, but have we seen an increase of users?
I have gathered some figures over the past months to find it out. Do keep in mind that a snaps container can only hold a certain number of comments, so some containers contain Snaps from multiple days.
Especially in the first weeks there wasn't a container created every day.
Think could be the reason why we see a some spikes.

After the launch back in September 2024 we've seen an increase of the total daily number of Snaps. The numbers globally hover between 600 and 700 Snaps a day.
The last three days there were 591 comment in the container on the 13th of January. The 14th there was no new container created and the 15th the container had 565 Snaps again. This is a lower amount than the average over the past months.
I'm curious how this trend will develop.

My conclusions

I have tried out several of the other microblogging alternatives before I started using Snaps. But since PeakD is my default front-end it's easier for me to use Snaps than the others.
I've been using it for a couple of months now and I still use it on a daily basis. I like the interactions with other 'snappers' and am happy with the rewards I earn with it.

The PeakD team has been quite active in developing new things for Snaps when they started. In October 2024 they introduced 10 improvement in 3 days, but it seems that the development has a lower priority at the moment since I haven't noticed any updates recently.

I also do think Snaps has a lot of potention. There is still a big group of Hivers that haven't discovered Snaps yet. And among them are also users of PeakD. I think A bit more promotion of Snaps would certainly help bringing Snaps under the attention of a bigger audience. I hope this blog also helps with that.

Apart from a bigger public on Hive itself I also think this could be a great tool to draw new people to Hive. As more and more people are looking for alternatives, Snaps could be the one! I already suggested the @peakd team to look into creating a dedicated URL for Snaps (for instance snaps.io), so it can be marketed as a standalone app. I think it could become a killer app that way that could draw loads of new users to Hive.

What do you think about Snaps?

Have you used Snaps already? And what do you think about it?
If not, check it out here: https://peakd.com/snaps/snaps/newest

About FriendlyMoose

I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together.
Check out my projects below!