Snapchat’s Our Campus Story has left Northwestern University for the foreseeable future, leaving students with a “We’ll be back” geotag.
“We didn't leave forever. We are just visiting different schools to share the experience with our Snapchatter community on other campuses,” said Mary Ritti, the Vice President of Communications at Snapchat.
When Our Campus Story arrived at Northwestern after winter break, one of the students' biggest questions was how to get their snaps chosen. Weinberg sophomore Shana Nissan made the cut once in the time between its arrival and its departure.
“I sent like 300 snaps to Our Campus Story and finally they chose one,” she said.
On the other hand, Matt Ruehlman, a sophomore transfer student, has gained campus-wide fame by appearing on Our Campus Story multiple times.
“I submitted about 10 snaps and six were chosen,” Ruehlman said.
According to Ritti, Our Campus Story only visits a few campuses at a time. They have a small team that helps curate the length and appropriateness of the snapchats submitted. Because Ruehlman doesn't know how or why he was chosen so often, he said that he doesn't have many tips on how to get the team's approval.
“Be yourself," he said. "Whenever I had an idea for something I thought was silly, I would just post it. Some got through, some didn't.”
Not everyone reacted well to Ruehlman's frequent appearances. “People told me my stuff was funny, but there were also a ton of people that said hateful stuff on Yik Yak anonymously,” he said.
While many strived to get their photos and videos featured, not every Snapchatter was aiming for the campus story. Freshman Aviv Delgadillo mainly watched.
“I refreshed it every day just because I was curious,” he said.
Snapchat declined to say when Our Campus Story would return to Northwestern.
“I wish I could tell you when we would be back, but we really love to surprise our community,” Ritti said.