Snapchat, the dynamic social media platform known for pioneering ephemeral messaging, has introduced an innovative feature that adds a cosmic twist to digital friendships: Snapchat Planets. This feature, part of the Snapchat Plus subscription, offers users a unique and visually engaging way to gauge their interactions with friends on the app, using a celestial metaphor to represent these connections. Let’s delve into what Snapchat Planets are, the order of these planets, and what they signify about your Snapchat friendships.
What Are Snapchat Planets?
Snapchat Planets are a feature exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers, transforming the concept of ‘best friends’ into a virtual solar system where each planet represents a friend based on the intensity and frequency of interactions on Snapchat. The user metaphorically represented as the Sun, finds their friends positioned as different planets in their solar system, with the order determined by how often they interact through snaps and messages.
The Order of Snapchat Planets and Their Meanings
Snapchat’s innovative feature, the Snapchat Planets, provides a fun and interactive way to visualize your social interactions within the app. By subscribing to Snapchat Plus, users gain access to this feature, which assigns planets to their closest friends based on the level of interaction, creating a personalized solar system with the user at the center as the Sun. Here’s a detailed look at the order of Snapchat Planets and what each signifies:
1. Mercury
Mercury represents your number one friend on Snapchat—the person you interact with the most. Symbolized by a fiery red planet encircled with red hearts, it stands for intensity and warmth in your relationship, highlighting the strongest connection among your Snapchat circle.
2. Venus
Venus, symbolizing beauty and affection, represents your second closest friend. Characterized by a light brown planet with yellow, pink, and blue hearts orbiting it, Venus signifies a close and cherished friendship, filled with personal and meaningful exchanges.
3. Earth
Your third closest friend is represented by Earth. This planet, depicted in its familiar blue and green hues with moons and hearts surrounding it, symbolizes a grounded and stable friendship. Earth reflects a dependable and consistent relationship where you find comfort and reliability.
4. Mars
Mars, the fourth planet, represents the friend with whom you share a dynamic and energetic connection. Symbolized by a bold red planet surrounded by stars and a mix of purple and blue hearts, Mars denotes a friendship characterized by action, adventure, and spirited exchanges.
5. Jupiter
Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, stands for your fifth closest friend. It is depicted as a large, reddish-orange planet with striking dark stripes, surrounded by stars. This planet signifies a broad friendship—while you may not interact daily, the connection brings a sense of grandeur and social extension to your life.
6. Saturn
The sixth closest friend is represented by Saturn, known for its distinctive rings. An orange planet circled by a ring of stars, Saturn symbolizes a relationship that, though not in your innermost circle, is significant and valued. It reflects a stable and enduring connection, marked by shared experiences and occasional, yet meaningful, interactions.
7. Uranus
Uranus signifies the seventh closest friend, depicted as a green planet without hearts. This choice reflects a unique or unconventional friendship that might not follow the traditional patterns of close interactions but is valued for its diversity and the different perspectives it brings to your life.
8. Neptune
Finally, Neptune represents the eighth closest friend, depicted as a dark blue planet, illustrating the outermost boundary of your close friendships on Snapchat. This planet symbolizes a connection that, while not frequently nurtured through daily interactions, holds a special place in your social cosmos for its depth and potential.
How to Access Snapchat Planets?
Accessing Snapchat Planets, a feature that visualizes your friendships as celestial bodies in a solar system, requires a subscription to Snapchat Plus, Snapchat’s premium service. Here’s a simplified guide to accessing this feature:
- Subscribe to Snapchat Plus: First, ensure you are subscribed to Snapchat Plus. You can subscribe through the Snapchat app by accessing your profile and looking for the Snapchat Plus subscription option.
- Open a Friend’s Profile: Once subscribed, navigate to the profile of a friend you’re curious about. This can be done by searching for their name in the Snapchat app and tapping on their profile icon.
- Find the Badge: On your friend’s profile, look for a “Best Friends” or “Friends” badge. This badge indicates that you are among their top friends on Snapchat.
- View the Planet: Tap on the badge mentioned above. This action will reveal which planet you represent in their Snapchat solar system, indicating your friendship level based on your Snapchat interactions.
The planets range from Mercury, representing the closest friend, to Neptune, indicating the eighth closest friend. The assignment of planets is dynamic and changes based on your interaction patterns with each friend on Snapchat.
How Does the Snapchat Planets Feature Work?
The Snapchat Planets feature is an imaginative addition to the Snapchat Plus subscription, offering a unique way for users to visualize their relationships within the app. Here’s how this engaging feature operates:
Activation and Accessibility
Firstly, the feature is exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers, underscoring its status as a premium offering. Once subscribed to Snapchat Plus, users gain access to an array of additional features, including the Snapchat Planets.
The Solar System Metaphor
At the heart of this feature is the metaphor of a solar system, with the user positioned as the Sun and their friends represented as planets orbiting around them. The proximity of these planets to the Sun (the user) is determined by the frequency and intensity of interactions with each friend on Snapchat. Essentially, the more you interact with a friend through snaps and messages, the closer their corresponding planet will be to you, the Sun, in this virtual solar system.
Determining the Planets
The assignment of friends to specific planets follows a straightforward order, mimicking the arrangement of our solar system based on interaction levels. The friend you interact with the most is assigned Mercury, the second most Venus, and so on, down to Neptune for the eighth closest friend. This creates a visually engaging and easy-to-understand hierarchy of your Snapchat friendships.
Interaction and Dynamics
What makes Snapchat Planets particularly fascinating is its dynamic nature. As your interaction patterns with friends change, so too will their positions within your solar system. This means that if you start snapping more with a friend who’s currently represented by Mars, they could move up to Venus or even Mercury, depending on the intensity of your interactions compared to those with other friends.
Visualization and Engagement
To view your Snapchat Planets, you simply need to navigate to a friend’s profile within Snapchat Plus. There, you’ll find badges indicating whether you are in each other’s top eight friends. Tapping on these badges reveals the planet you represent in their solar system and vice versa, providing a clear and playful visualization of your friendship’s status.
The Significance of Snapchat Planets
The Significance of Snapchat Planets goes beyond just a novel feature within a social media platform; it represents a creative and engaging method to visualize and interpret one’s social interactions. This feature, exclusive to Snapchat Plus users, maps out one’s closest friendships into a personalized solar system, assigning each friend a planet based on the frequency and intensity of interactions on Snapchat. Here’s a deeper look into its significance:
Reflective of Social Dynamics
Snapchat Planets offer a visual representation of the user’s social hierarchy within the app, providing insight into whom they interact with most. This can lead to a deeper understanding of one’s social habits, potentially highlighting relationships that are most valued or areas where one might want to foster more engagement.
Dynamic and Interactive
Unlike static friend lists, the Snapchat Planets feature is dynamic, reflecting changes in interaction patterns over time. This means that as users engage more with certain friends, their respective planets move closer to the ‘Sun’ (the user), mirroring the fluid nature of real-life relationships. This interactive aspect encourages active participation on the platform, promoting engagement to maintain or change the position of friends within their solar system.
Encourages Connectivity
By assigning a tangible representation to friendships, Snapchat Planets subtly encourages users to connect more with their friends. Seeing a friend as ‘Mercury’ or ‘Venus’ might inspire more frequent interactions to maintain that closeness, or conversely, seeing a friend drifting to ‘Neptune’ might motivate a user to rekindle that connection.
Personalized Experience
Snapchat Planets personalize the user experience on the app, making the social dynamics playful and intriguing. This personalized touch not only enhances user engagement with the feature but also strengthens the user’s relationship with the app itself, by providing a unique and customized overview of their social network.
A Novel Way to Visualize Friendships
This feature stands out by offering a unique, cosmic-themed visualization of friendships, distinct from the conventional lists or rankings found on other social media platforms. It adds a layer of fun and curiosity to the user experience, inviting exploration and discovery within one’s social circle.
Conclusion
Snapchat Planets offer a playful yet insightful way to reflect on your social interactions, using the cosmic theme to symbolize the different layers and dynamics of friendship. By assigning each friend a planet based on the frequency and intensity of their interactions, Snapchat encourages users to consider the nature of their relationships and the various roles friends play in their digital universe. This feature not only adds a creative layer to the app’s social experience but also invites users to engage more deeply with their network, fostering an appreciation for the diverse connections that make up their social solar system.
A: There are eight Best Friend Planets on Snapchat.
A: Yes, you can cancel the Snapchat Plus free trial at any time. However, for iOS users, it’s important to cancel the subscription 24 hours before the 7-day trial ends to avoid being charged, as Apple will automatically renew your subscription if you cancel on the last day of the trial. The cancellation process is handled through the App Store or Google Play Store, depending on your device.
A: If you can’t see the planets on Snapchat, it could be due to several reasons: you might not have subscribed to Snapchat Plus, as the feature is exclusive to Plus members; there could be an issue with the app’s update or function on your device, requiring a restart or update; or your interactions with friends may not yet have been calculated to assign planets. Checking your subscription status, updating the app, or increasing interactions with friends could help resolve this issue.
