Gun control walkouts are lighting up Snapchat Maps
Eli BlumenthalThe gun control debate has a new platform: Snapchat.
The social network, popular with Millennials and Gen Z, was using its Map feature to highlight gun control protests from across the country Wednesday, allowing students the ability to follow along no matter where they were.
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As of Wednesday afternoon, a zoomed out view of the United States showed nearly a dozen protests, walkouts, and rallies from a number of states including Arizona, California, Florida and Washington, D.C.
Stockton, Calif.'s Franklin High School, Gilbert, Ariz.'s Highland High School and Small Middle School in Austin, Texas, were three of the schools spotlighted by the app, with students sharing images and videos of the scene.
Rallies in Tallahassee, Fla. and Washington D.C. were also featured, with Snapchat separately sharing scenes from the walkouts in multiple public stories inside its "Discover" section.
Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, told USA TODAY that the company has had "hundreds of thousands" of Snaps shared by people around the country regarding today's walkouts.
Users can view the Snapchat Map by "zooming out" while in the Snapchat app on iOS or Android. The company recently added the ability for users to also view the map from their computers by going to map.snapchat.com.
Students and gun control supporters have mobilized following last week's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people.
The students are calling for stricter gun laws and have taken to using all the platforms at their disposal to raise awareness.
In addition to the Snapchat posts, the hashtag #ParklandStudentsSpeak was a top trending topic on Twitter for much of Wednesday.
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