Her Voice Blog

The Tribeca Film Festival has officially partnered with Snapchat to create Tribeca Snapchat Shorts, the first program of its kind inviting users to submit 200-second long Snapchat stories for a chance to win an awesome prize, including two passes to the Tribeca Film Festival, a trip to NYC and a whole lot of swag.

This partnership between the Tribeca Film Festival and Snapchat marks a new era in social media storytelling. It captures the very essence of social media—the in-the-moment, raw and intimate vivacity that we all love. Snapchat offers users the opportunity to share stories through video, narration, images, illustration, animation and filters. Through Snapchat, you become the star of the show, while also playing the director and producer.

Tribeca Snapchat Shorts just gets it. Snapchat is hot now, nipping the heels of Twitter when it comes to the number of daily active users and trumping Twitter’s amount of daily activity. The amount of growth Snapchat experienced in 2014 and 2015 makes it an impressive underdog in the realm of social media.

Snapchat has become a popular platform for the largest demographic of social media users. More than one-third of social media users, those between the ages of 18 and 24, are on Snapchat. Snapchat was the fastest growing platform in 2014 and is expected to exceed its current 200 million monthly-user base this coming year. And it’s no surprise. The immediate notifications of who has viewed your snaps, taken screenshots and forwarded your snaps make Snapchat close to addictive.

Even businesses and celebrities are taking advantage of the platform to reach out to the younger generation. They’re increasing engagement, working their influence and interacting with their audience on a more personal level. Don’t believe me? Among Snapchat’s top users are DJ Khaled, the current ‘king’ of Snapchat, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggr and Sophia Amoruso, #girlboss and CEO of multimillion dollar retailer, NastyGal.

 Submissions for the Tribeca Snapchat Shorts will open on Feb. 27 and close on March 8. For official rules, visit the Tribeca Film Festival website. I’m eager to create my own Snapchat Short for the competition! Are you?