KPU launches Snapchat account

Tremendous potential for new social media platform at Kwantlen

Kwantlen Polytechnic University has added another social media platform to their vast array of accounts—Snapchat. On Feb. 23, KPU announced via Instagram that they had launched their Snapchat account. As of publishing time, Kwantlen had posted one snap to their story, which features a photo of Surrey campus with a Kwantlen geofilter applied.

KPU is one of only a few post-secondary institutions in BC to have a Snapchat account, although UBC Recreation does have their own account, and SFU has SFU Snaps, an unofficial account that screenshots snaps sent to them by SFU students and posts them on their other accounts. It is more common for student groups, such as student newspapers, to have Snapchat accounts.

One of the first universities to get Snapchat was the University of Houston in 2014. Since then, many other schools have also launched an account, and use it as a recruitment and promotional tools. It is widely acknowledged that geofilters are particularly useful for this, as the school is able to get promotion through wide networks when students send their geofiltered selfies to their friends. Other universities have used Snapchat for athletic recruitment, to launch scavenger hunts and contests, and to communicate with potential applicants.

Although it is not yet clear what KPU will use their Snapchat for, we can only hope it’ll be filled with quirky doodles of Alan Davis as Snape, and selfies of Kwintin using the animated filters.