Why is Snapchat Demoting the Snapchat Planets Feature?

Snapchat added some more features to Snapchat Plus for their paid users. Snapchat also introduced the planet feature, where you are the sun on Snapchat and the other eight planets indicate your closest friends rank, indicating how close you are to your friends. However, due to some reasons, Snapchat Demoting feature. Let’s talk about in detail what this feature is and why Snapchat is demoting this planet feature.

What is Snapchat Planet?

Snapchat launched a planet feature only for the users who subscribe to Snapchat +. This feature shows who your eighth closest Snapchat friends are. Your top best friend on Snapchat is the person with whom you have the most streaks and conversations. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in the universe, just like if you are Mercury, it means you are the closest friend of that person on Snapchat. 

Order of Snapchat Planets 

Mercury: It represents you as the closest friend of that person whose solar system shows that you are Mercury, which means you are the person with whom your friend chats the most.

Venus: It represents you as the second closest friend according to the planet’s position around the sun.

Earth: It shows you that you are the 3rd close friend of that person.

Mars: It indicates that you are in the 4th position of your friend’s top list.

Jupiter: When you are Jupiter in your friend’s solar system, it means you are the fifth person on the list with whom you are chatting the most.

Saturn: This planet indicates the 6th rank of your friend’s top friend list.

Uranus: If you are Uranus, you are the 7th close friend.

Neptune: This planet shows that you are the farthest planet in your friend’s solar system, but you are still in the top 8th closest friend list.

How Does This Planet Feature Work On Snapchat?

In this feature, you are the sun, and the other 8 planets are your best friends, ranking according to planets. The planet that is near you means they are closer to you than the person whose planet is far away from you.

For example;

Mercury is near the sun, and Neptune is far away from the sun. same that if someone is Mercury Planet, it means that friend is closer to you as compared to the person who is Neptune which is more distant to the sun.

Who Can Access This Feature?

Only the person who subscribes to its Snapchat + version has access to this planet feature. This feature is not for the free users. If you want to enjoy this feature, it is compulsory to subscribe to its paid version; otherwise, you have no option to use it free of charge.

By following these steps, you can subscribe to Snapchat+:

  • Simply go to Settings and click on the Snapchat+ banner card.
  • Snapchat shows you its monthly or yearly plans. 
  • Select them according to your preference and pay the amount.
  • After this, you need to restart the app, and you have access to Snapchat+ features Including Snapchat planet.

How Does This Feature Snapchat Demoting Impact One’s Mental Health?

Researchers noted that it has a bad effect on the mental health of the new generation. They observe that if a real-life best friend sees his best friend’s top closest friend list and doesn’t find him on that list. It makes them upset. Snapchat top friend list planets depends upon who has most of the streaks with you.

If your closest friend in real life does not send you the most streaks, he is still your best friend, but on Snapchat, someone else is the closest friend due to more snaps. Thus, he experiences stress and negative effects on his mental health. Whenever he sees someone else who is his closest friend on Snapchat. So according to the researcher, this feature is not good for the young generation, making it a bit controversial .

User’s Feedback On This Feature

There are two types of responses received from the users of Snapchat+. Some show positive reviews but some have negative feedback about this.

Users’ Positive Review

Some of the users enjoyed this feature. They will be happy when they become friends’ closest friends because they will feel so good when they see the planets based on friendship rankings. They used to send more streaks to become closer friends. Mostly, they tried to become Mercury Planet and utilized this feature.

Users Negative Review

The majority of users have left negative reviews for this feature because it makes them uneasy to see that their best friend or friends have someone else on their Snapchat top friend list. So this feature makes them disappointed and doesn’t want to see this planet feature.

Response From Snapchat

After seeing the negative review on this feature. Snapchat decided to make changes to its Snapchat+ version. By default, Snapchat disables this feature, so the solar system of its closest friends is not displayed. So the people who do not want this will not see this planet’s friend list.

How Can This Feature Be Enabled?

If you like this feature and want to create a bond with your close friends, there is an option to turn on this feature manually. Just go to the settings and activate this feature if you would like to use it. So this feature shows only to the persons who are using it. Otherwise, the other users cannot not see this feature.

Conclusion

After reading this article, I hope you understand this planet’s solar system features and why it has become a hot topic on the internet. According to the researcher’s analysis, this feature has a negative influence on young people’s mental health and encourages friend comparison. Thus, as soon as Snapchat becomes aware of that information, it takes the responsibility and disables this feature by default. However, users who wish to take advantage of this feature can also access it by going to settings and using it straightforwardly.