Snapchat encourages social isolation with new game

Snap Inc. is the company responsible for Snapchat. The app no ​​longer has the glow of other times, at least in Portugal, but this is not the only application of technology. Zenly, whose premise revolves around geolocation, is one of the other proposals that is part of its catalog. The app is now gamifying social distance, in order to encourage practice, and even has a leaderboard that assigns points to those who spend more time at home.

Generally, the application is used for groups of friends to come together at specific points on the map, but since crowds and staying on the street are now prohibited, the app has decided to temporarily reinvent itself to encourage the opposite. The idea is to contribute to containment and isolation practices.

The app can now be used to show you how many days in a row that your friends have been at home, in a competitive way, and whoever manages to stay out of the street for the longest time wins.

The app also shows the number of cases diagnosed in a given region, just above the map where your contacts are marked. Zenly is free and available for Android and iOS.

This is just one example of how companies can reinvent their products to make them relevant in the light of the current pandemic. The big social platforms are also following a similar path. Instagram recently launched new features that allow a greater level of remote interaction with other users; Facebook launched an information center for emergency services; and Snapchat itself had already debuted Here For You, a feature that provides expert advice on anxiety, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts or bullying to help anyone who is anxious about the current social context caused by COVID-19.