Snapchatters on campus are no longer limited to showing their pride with a simple Binghamton University geotag — College-in-the-Woods and Mountainview College residents can now rep their dorms with community-specific filters.
After observing multiple Snapchat filters at her friends’ respective colleges, Alejandra Lee, a freshman majoring in computer science, decided to put her interest in graphic design to use by creating custom geotag filters on Photoshop over winter break for each residential community. She said it took about two days to complete them, and that her goal was to represent each community’s theme in her designs.
“I saw on Snapchat’s website that you can create your own geotag filters, and the first thing I thought of was Binghamton,” she said.
The Snapchat website allows users to draw “geofences” around particular locations, then upload an original design for the area. The approval process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months, as designs must follow the company’s criteria. Areas can also have multiple geotag options if more than one design is approved for that location.
“It has to be original, it can’t be offensive, it has to be something interesting and then Snapchat can accept it and put it to use,” Lee said.
According to her peers, the new designs have been well received.
“They’re awesome,” said Isabella Benayoun, a sophomore majoring in business. “I think it’s really cool that you can show your living community pride.”
Melissa Neira, a senior majoring in English, said that she would like to see geotags created for Downtown Binghamton.
“Snapchat wasn’t really a thing when I lived on campus, but I think it’s cool that Snapchat added geotags to the campus communities,” Neira said. “I would like to see a geotag for Binghamton, but I don’t really care if they do. Binghamton isn’t a big city like NYC. There aren’t really many neighborhoods to make geotags out of.”
Allison Drexler, a senior double-majoring in art history and political science, said that the geotags are a great addition to campus.
“When I lived on campus, I loved living in the community that I was in,” Drexler said. “If I still lived on campus I would use it to show how proud I was to live there.”
Lee said she is enthusiastic about the process and hopes her designs for Hinman, Dickinson and Newing are approved soon so she can create more.
“I made all of the living community ones and I’m waiting for them to be approved,” Lee said. “If they’re not, I’ll try and maybe make more that are more interesting and unique. Also, it’d be cool to have one for State Street and Downtown Binghamton.”