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Snapchat, in an effort to bring more advanced AR (augmented reality) features to its platform, has rolled out a new “sous-chef” feature called Food Scan.

This feature builds on Snapchat’s previous ability to react to things like pets, plants, wine labels, music, and nutrition labels (you could include faces in this list too, of course, since Snapchat has long provided facial recognition filters).

Now, after pointing the Snapchat camera at an item of food, the new feature will kick in and present a few interesting things:

• Wikipedia information like what the food is and where it comes from.

• Relevant recipes in partnership with the company Allrecipes (including “4,500+ recipes … based on 1,200+ ingredients understood through the Snapchat camera”).

The recipe inspiration we all needed. Hello, Food Scan!👻 Just open your Snapchat🥑 Point your camera at an ingredient👆 Tap and hold to Scan🔍 Start exploring recipes pic.twitter.com/O8PK0jgg3A

— Snapchat (@Snapchat) November 16, 2021

Note: Unlike a previously released feature in which the Snapchat app scanned a barcode and provided nutrition information via Yuka, this new feature can apparently see and understand various food and ingredient items without scanning a label.

Why it Matters

For many years, Snapchat’s Scanning features have helped it differentiate itself from other social media apps. The continued focus may be a sign that these interactions will continue to drive engagement on Snap (and on other platforms) as time goes on. This will become even more important if things like wearable technology (such as Snap Spectacles) or fully immersive experiences (like what Meta hopes to provide) ever truly take off.

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Here are a few more shareworthy items we’ve been reading this month…

Channel Updates & News:

• Reels and Videos are now just called “Instagram Videos” (FB blog)

• Facebook Eases Social Issues Ads Policy to Allow Product-Focused Ads to Run Without a Disclaimer (Social Media Today)

• Get lost in Layers, now on Snap Map (Snap blog)

• Introducing AR Experiences for Video Calls on Messenger (FB blog)

• Introducing Pinterest TV (Pinterest blog)

• Calling All Hackers: Introducing Bug Bounties on Clubhouse (Clubhouse blog)

• How To Record A Room On Clubhouse & See Total Listener Count (Clubhouse blog)

Stories & Analysis

• LinkedIn Report: What Candidates Want, What Companies Need, and What's Changing (LinkedIn blog)

• Twitter Blue: What to know about the subscription and features, including undo tweets (CNET)

• Social Media Firms ‘On the Hook’ Under New Aussie Defamation Law (Bloomberg)

• Why Facebook changed its name to Meta (Quartz)

Looking for More Social Media Help?

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