Snapchat’s Solar System Feature: Know What it is and Why the Company is Disabling this feature

Snapchat's subscriber-only "Solar System" feature has been making waves lately, but not for the reasons the company might have hoped. The feature, designed to visualise your closest Snapchat friends, has come under fire for potentially creating anxiety and negativity around social comparison.

What is the "Solar System" feature on Snapchat?

Available only to Snapchat+ subscribers, "Solar System" displayed a planetary representation of your closest friends based on how much you interacted with them on the app. The closer a friend was to the "sun" (the most interacted-with friend), the higher their position in your "Solar System." While some users enjoyed the gamified aspect of seeing their closest connections, others found that this representation was stressful.

How Does the Solar System Feature Work?

The Solar System feature on Snapchat is a way to visualise your closest friends on the app, available only to Snapchat+ subscribers. Here's the breakdown:

• Metaphorical Solar System: You, the user, are represented by the Sun. Your eight most interacted-with friends become the "planets" orbiting you.
• Ranking by Interaction: The closeness of each friend (planet) to the Sun reflects how often you interact with them on Snapchat. The most frequent interaction puts you in the Mercury position (closest planet), while the least frequent interaction lands you at Neptune (farthest planet).
• Viewing Your Position: You can see your placement in a friend's Solar System by tapping their "Best Friends" or "Friends" badge (with a gold ring) on their profile. "Best Friends" means you're both in each other's top eight, while "Friends" signifies you're on their list but not vice versa.

Snapchat Support page mentions: “As a Snapchat+ subscriber, you’ll see a 'Best Friends' or 'Friends' badge with a gold ring around it on someone’s Friendship Profile. ‘Best Friends’ means you’re one of each other’s eight closest friends, and ‘Friends’ means you’re one of their eight closest friends, but they’re not one of yours.”

“Tapping on the badge will show you which planet you are in their Solar System, with each planet representing a different position in their Best Friends list. For example, if your friend is the Sun and you’re Earth in their Solar System, that means you’re their third closest friend,” it adds.

Why is Snapchat Disabling the Solar System Feature?

The feature attracted criticism for potentially creating a social hierarchy within friend groups. Teenagers, a core demographic for Snapchat, are particularly susceptible to social pressures. Concerns arose that seeing their position in the "Solar System" could lead to feelings of inadequacy or exclusion for some users.

In response to this feedback, Snapchat announced they are disabling "Solar System" by default. While the feature won't be entirely removed, users who enjoyed it can still choose to enable it manually.

What was Snapchat’s Message Regarding the Solar System Feature?

According to news reports, Snapchat acknowledged mixed reactions to "Solar System." They stated a desire to avoid features that might negatively impact mental health, especially among younger users. Their message emphasised a commitment to providing users with control over their experience.

Snapchat’s Newsroom mentions: “We’ve gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback from the Snapchat+ subscribers who use the Solar System feature, but we understand that even though it can feel good to know you are close to someone, it can also feel bad to know that you aren’t as close to a friend as you’d like to be. We’ve heard and understand that the Solar System can make that feeling worse, and we want to avoid that.”

“We’re going to turn the Solar System feature off by default so that Snapchat+ subscribers who want more friendship insights can proactively turn it on, and those who don’t will never have to see it. We hope this strikes the right balance between providing a feature that is desired by many who use it while avoiding upsetting those who don’t want to use it. We will also take the time to further evaluate the feature and determine if there are additional ways that we could improve it for our community,” it adds.

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