Social media is redefining friendship. Now, it’s no longer all about how many times people connect and interact in person, but how often friends interact online.
Social media platforms are becoming more than just mere messaging applications. They are helping friends and strangers connect at a deeper level. One of such applications is Snapchat. With the Snapchat solar system, the app offers users a gamified and unique way to rank friends.
This article provides insight into the meaning of the Snapchat solar system. We will discuss what it is, how it works, and more. Keep scrolling down for more details on the topic.
Understanding The Snapchat Solar System
It’s all about engagement for social media platforms. They want people to connect and engage as often as possible.
One of the ways Snapchat is encouraging people to engage more often is via its solar system. The app launched the solar system in 2022, and it has become a significant feature for premium users.
The Snapchat solar system is available on the app’s premium plus, a paid subscription. Snapchat introduced the feature to help users rank their friends.
The platform utilizes metaphors like planets orbiting around the sun to define how close users are to their friends. If you’re ranking your friends, then you are the sun, while your friends are the planets orbiting around you.
The planet (friends) closer to the sun (you) are the ones that interact with you more often. In other words, the more often you interact with certain friends, the closer they will be in your solar system.
The platform divided the planets in the solar system into two categories:
- Inner planets
- Outer planets
The inner planets, as the name implies, are the planets (friends) closest to the sun (you). They include the category of friends you interact with more often. They include your closest friends.
The inner planets, according to the Snapchat solar system, include Mercury and Venus. You can also add more friends to this category by interacting with them more often.
The outer planets include friends, but this time, they include friends you don’t interact with more often. These categories of planets (friends) aren’t close to the sun (you) like other planets. They include planets like Neptune or Pluto.
You can convert friends in the outer planets into the inner planets by interacting with them more often. That is how the platform’s solar system works.
The app’s solar system is a unique, gamified, and playful way to help users understand the level of friendships they share with other users. It helps users identify their closest friends on the platform.
Why the Snapchat Solar System is Important
Social media platforms thrive on engagement. The more people engage, the more relevant they become. The more relevant they become, the more advertisers and money they make.
Snapchat has been devising several means to increase engagement on the platform. The platform has always been about streaks, intimacy, and the “best friends” list.
The solar system introduced by the app added another level to the long list of ways it keeps users engaged. The system helps users identify their best friends and interact more often with them.
Here is what makes the Snapchat solar system a unique feature:
- The Snapchat solar system is a unique visual metaphor, something peculiar to Snapchat. It’s a feature you won’t find on other applications. It’s unique to see the platform move from the regular “friends list” into something cosmic and unique.
- The gamification of the Snapchat solar system is another feature that makes it unique. Most people enjoy comparing their friendship rankings. It helps them understand the level of engagement they have with their friends and engage more often. It gives a tiny dopamine feeling whenever one checks the friendship rankings to know how close they have been with others.
- The exclusivity makes the solar system feature unique. The fact that the feature is available only to premium subscribers drives curiosity. It would inspire others to subscribe.
Snapchat introduced the solar system to help drive engagement on the platform. But it’s not just about engagements. The feature also motivates others to subscribe, offering the platform more ways to generate revenue.
Visibility of The Snapchat Solar System
While the solar system on the platform offers users the opportunity to rank their friendship with others, it isn’t always available. The Snapchat solar system is only visible under two conditions.
The first is the package you’re in. You need a subscription package to access this feature on Snapchat.
The second way you can find and use the Snapchat solar system feature is when you’re in your friends’ top 8 best friends list. You can only get into this list by interacting with your friends more often.
The solar system feature on Snapchat is mutual. You won’t see everyone’s solar system. You can only see the solar system of the people or friends who rank you highly. That’s how the platform works.
The Snapchat Solar System: How The Feature Works
The solar system is a unique feature on the Snapchat app that helps friends strengthen and maintain friendships with others. Here is how the feature works on the platform.
- The sun (You):
In the solar system, we have the sun. All the planets revolve around the sun. That’s how it works.
The Snapchat solar system uses the same idea. In the system, you are the sun. The people you engage with are the planets.
- The planets (Your friends):
Your friends are the planets. But Snapchat doesn’t just assign a planet to any random friend. The platform assesses your level of interaction with that person before assigning a planet to them.
Snapchat considers your streak, chats, stories, and snaps before assigning a planet to your friends. Friends who have a stronger bond with you are the ones closest in the solar system.
Here is how Snapchat assigns planets to your friends based on their level of interaction with you.
- Mercury:
Mercury is the planet closest to the sun. So, friends in this category are the ones you share a strong bond with. They are ranked as your #1 “best friend” on Snapchat.
- Venus:
Venus is the second planet closest to the sun. Friends in this category are your second-best friends, ranked as your #2 best friend.
- Earth:
The third in the solar system ranking is the planet “Earth.” They are ranked in the #3 best friend category.
- Mars:
The fourth planet is Mars. Friends in the category are ranked #4. They are in your fourth-best-friend list.
- Jupiter:
The fifth planet is Jupiter. Friends in this category are ranked as your #5 best friends.
- Saturn:
Friends ranked on the planet “Saturn” are those in your #6 best friend category. The bonds shared with friends in this category aren’t as strong as the bonds shared with friends in the Mercury planet.
- Uranus:
Friends in this category are in your #7 best friend list. They are friends, but don’t share a strong bond with you.
- Neptune:
Neptune is the last of the planets in the Snapchat solar system for now. Friends in this category are in the #8 best friend category.
Most people claim that they have seen the planet “Pluto” as one of the Snapchat solar system. But, as of the time of writing, the last planet on the Snapchat solar system is “Neptune.” Additionally, Snapchat hasn’t even confirmed if they plan to add Pluto to the list of planets in their solar system.
How Snapchat Solar System Defines the Bond between Friends
For platforms like Snapchat, engagement is a significant factor. No social media platform in the world can survive with low engagement. That’s why Snapchat is churning out new features that can keep users engaged.
The planets in Snapchat’s solar system aren’t just fun icons. They symbolize something profound – the bond you share with people. Here is what the platform means by each planet they assign to a friend.
- Mercury: Here is the closest planet. Any friend placed in this category is the closest to you. Both of you are inseparable. You chat daily, maintain streaks, and engage more often than you do with other friends. You even snap at each other regularly.
- Venus: Friends in this category are close, but they aren’t as active as the ones in Mercury. You don’t chat daily or snap each other regularly. You also don’t maintain streaks. For that reason, Snapchat assigns them the planet “Venus.”
- Mars: What does Snapchat mean when they assign the planet “Mars” to a friend? It means they are your friends, but you don’t interact with them more often. You don’t talk with them daily.
- Jupiter and Saturn: Snapchat considers friends in this list as middle-tiers. They are in your contact list, but you don’t interact with them daily.
- Uranus and Neptune: These are the two last planets in Snapchat’s solar system. They include the list of friends you interact with occasionally, though not regularly.
You can see from the Snapchat solar system that the platform is trying to encourage people to interact more often. Friends on planet Earth may want to interact more often, so they can join the planets closest to the sun (you).
The planet assigned to friends isn’t permanent. Today, Snapchat may assign someone planet Mercury. Other times, that same person may drop to Earth or other lower planets. That is how the platform works.
You need to keep engaging with your friends, maintain streaks, and more to keep climbing high in the Snapchat solar system.
How You Can Check The Snapchat Solar System
Want to know where you rank on the Snapchat solar planet? Here is how you can find out.
- The first thing is to get the Snapchat Plus, a paid subscription plan. You can’t see the solar system with the free plan.
- Start a chat with any of your friends. Note that the more you interact with someone, the higher they will get on the Snapchat solar system.
- Hit the Snapchat “best friends” icon.
- If you and the proposed friend appear in the top 8 of the best friends list, then the solar system will pop up.
How To Increase Ranking In Snapchat Solar System
How do you rank high in the Snapchat solar system? How do you go from Venus to Earth or Mercury? That’s what we’re going to discuss here.
While Snapchat hasn’t discussed how it ranks friends, interaction on the platform is a crucial factor. Here are key tips that can help you rank high on the solar system.
- Send snaps to your friends daily. These include videos and photos.
- Another way you can increase your chances of ranking high on the solar system is to maintain streaks.
- Don’t waste time when replying to people’s chats. Be prompt and respectful, too.
- Be active on the platform. Consider watching and engaging with people’s stories.
- Interact with people using different patterns. Use bitmojis, stickers, not just texts.
Conclusion
The Snapchat solar system is an important feature introduced by the platform to boost engagement. However, access to this platform isn’t for everyone. It’s only available to users on Snapchat Plus, a paid subscription plan.
In the solar system, you are the sun, while your friends are the planets. The more often you interact with friends, the higher their ranking on the solar system, and vice versa.
The closest planet to the sun is Mercury. It’s the same thing on the Snapchat solar system. The platform places your closest friends in Mercury, with Venus, Earth, and other planets occupying the other positions.
To rank high in the solar system, friends must interact more often, send snaps, and maintain streaks. It’s also essential to reply to chats promptly. Follow the tips and you’ll rank high on the platform’s solar system.
