Overcome Anxiety Due To COVID-19, Snapchat Releases Here For You Feature

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JAKARTA - The Snapchat short video app has an update with a suite of mental health tools. Its purpose is to help users combat anxiety and depression. This feature is nicknamed "Here For You."

First trialled in February, the company said it chose to accelerate its release in response to the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic currently raging around the world.

This new feature is especially useful for Snapchat users who can find mental health resources in the app when they search for terms such as anxiety, stress, depression or bullying. The search results return videos from verified organizations, such as Crisis Text Line or Ad Council.

As the COVID-19 outbreak has expanded globally, Here For You has now expanded to mental health resources as users operate Snapchat looking for terms like coronavirus or COVID-19. Currently the only result from the Here For You feature for this search term is Snapchat's generic Here For You profile, but it's rumored to be experiencing a more specific update soon.

"In addition, we are also building a dedicated search section for you related to COVID-19 which will provide Snapchatters from the Advertising Council, World Health Organization, CDC, Crisis Text Line, NHS and other partners creating content on anxiety specifically related to coronavirus. We hope this section will begin rolling out to Snapchatters next week, "said the Snapchat to Mashable.

Given the amount of misinformation or hoaxes and fears that are circulating because of COVID-19, the disease which was originally centered in Wuhan, China, any efforts to rectify or help people manage their anxieties are welcome.

In addition, the application with the white and yellow logos has also collaborated with more than 40 media partners from around the world to highlight authentic and verified information about the ongoing pandemic. Previously, Snapchat has also offered users updates regarding eating disorders in other people such as terms with the keywords anorexia, bulimia, shortness of breath, thinspo, and pro ana.