Campaign Coverage via Snapchat Could Shake Up the 2016 Elections

Snapchat, America’s fastest-growing smartphone app, hired Peter Hamby, a political reporter for CNN, to lead its nascent news division. Snapchat has said little about its plans. But a couple of things are clear: A company known for enabling teenagers in various states of undress to send disappearing selfies to each other is getting into politics. And with well over 100 million users, a huge swath of whom are in the United States and between the ages of 18 and 31, its potential to shake up the next election is considerable. “There is no harder riddle to solve in politics than reaching young Americans who are very interested in the future of their country but don’t engage with traditional news,” wrote Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Obama. “Snapchat may have just made it a whole lot easier to solve this riddle.”