Because it’s so simple and straightforward, Snapchat has always been a particularly difficult corner of social media for businesses to conquer. If you’re trying to get viewers to visit a page, or even if you just want to share an online shopping link with your friends while you’re showing off a new jacket or gadget in a Snap, you’ve had to type a link into the text bar and cross your fingers. But now there’s an app that converts links to a couple of emojis for you to share, and that same app — called Emoticode — can read those links from a Snapchat screenshot.
Emoticode can add links to Snapchat and Instagram posts using a combination of two emoji and a couple of text characters, which can then be added to the text bar of a Snap or the description of an Instagram post. Anyone that then screenshots that post or Snap with the Emoticode emoji visible can then use the Emoticode app to scan the screenshot and travel to the shortened link. The app’s description of itself makes it clear: “An emoticode is a hidden URL using emojis and alpha-numeric characters in captions or comments. Think of it as a shortened URL for Snapchat, Instagram, and other apps that do not allow links.”
Anyone that has tried to share a link through Instagram knows how painful it is — you’ve only got the option of referring people to the link in your profile, which makes things impossible you’re trying to share several different links at the same time; Snapchat is almost impossible no matter what. And sure, Emoticode is another app to install in your already crowded app drawer, but it makes Instagram and Snapchat immensely more useful around the Web. Emoticode is releasing today on Apple’s App Store. [Emoticode]
Disclosure: Popsugar, the developer of the Emoticode app, is operated in Australia by Allure Media. Gizmodo Australia is also operated by Allure Media.