One of the fun elements on Snapchat is the Lens feature, which are in plenty. Lens creators from around the world create powerful AR experiences with Lens Studio, combining leading-edge technologies with stunning outcomes. Lens Studio is, in fact, a very powerful application with an enviable set of built-in features, including custom shaders and advanced tracking technology. You can pretty much create whatever world you dream up. We emailed Durgesh Kaushik, head of India market development at Snap Inc, to learn more about India’s role on the Lens front. Here’s what he has to say.

What are some of Snapchat’s popular Lenses that are developed in India via Lens Studio?

Over the last two years, we have seen our Indian creators develop Lenses that have become popular within and outside India. Our Indian AR community has developed Lenses celebrating important national and regional festivals and cultural moments, for various partners, for learning Indian languages and more, trying different formats. From time to time, we have featured the community Lenses for different festivals with a curated category on our Lens Explorer. We have received a tremendous response. For example, last year during Diwali, along with our global community of creators, we launched a variety of AR experiences that were viewed over 430m times.

We have been training high school and college students on Lens Studio to help them experience the practical application of AR and to also help them develop high-quality Lenses for our community. So far, we have trained over 5,000 students on Lens Studio and have conducted three national Lens-making hackathons called Lensathons.

Who are some of the standout Indian creators?

One of the first creators in India is Jagmeet Singh, based out of Amritsar. He is studying medicine and is also passionate about AR. Some of his most popular Lenses are Dark Moody (has received over 1.2b views), Old Town and Pickled.

The Smoke Flare VR, developed in India, by Vivek Thakur is one of the most popular Lenses. It has received more than 30.5b views across the world. The language-learning lenses introduced in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, and Telugu by Atit Kharel were also well-received as they recognise over 1,000 objects and translate their name in real-time.

The Snap Lens Network in India has also created a range of experiences, from celebrating Independence Day to Raksha Bandhan, and have introduced local “landmarker” Lenses at the Gateway of India. This year, on August 15, we launched our third “landmarker” Lens in India at the India Gate, bringing the historic monument alive through AR.

What have been some of the meaningful implementations of the Snapchat Lens feature?

It’s a great time for AR. Over 200m Snapchatters engage with AR daily and more than 170m Snapchatters scan the world around them every month. At Snap, we have always been focused on creativity and innovation. We’ve spent the last several years investing in Lens capabilities. We’re working to improve the underlying technology to make Lenses more realistic, immersive, accurate and easy to navigate.

AR played a key role in amplifying our Covid-relief efforts. Last year, in the wake of Covid, coinciding with World Health Day, we launched new augmented reality Lenses in partnership with the United Nations Foundation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of World Health Organisation (WHO).

Is it also helping Snap to reach out to a lot of women users?

For this year’s International Women’s Day, Snapchat collaborated with Lean in India, Navjyoti India Foundation and Digital Empowerment Foundation to reach out to women across India to host a special Lens Studio workshop. This workshop introduced young Indian women to the concept of AR and some of the skills necessary to navigate the digital economy of the future.

The workshop was followed by a Lensathon that had registrations from young women across India, including cities like Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Poonthura and Thrissur; over 90 per cent of women said they had no prior AR skills. While each participant learnt new skills and showed keen interest in learning more about augmented reality and creative tools, three women from Chennai, Delhi and Surat submitted exceptionally creative Lenses, winning the Lensathon.

What are some of the trends you are noticing among Snapchat users in India?

Gen Z or the Snapchat generation forms the core of our community, but Snapchat supports meaningful connections and shared experiences for anyone with a smartphone, irrespective of age. Compared to last year, this group is more likely to use AR and other creative tools and three times more likely to virtually try on products. Well-versed with technology, this group is completely comfortable using AR as an everyday communication tool. Influenced by storytelling, Gen Z aspires to shape a better world and want to know what the brand stands for before they make a decision. Brands that are authentic and connect meaningfully at this level with Gen Z are seeing greater engagement. They are driving new behaviours, they have unique values, and they’re defining what the future will look like.

Better scanning power

Snapchat’s Scan feature is being updated to let you identify a range of things in the real world, like clothes or dog breeds. This means, that the company is slowly becoming not just a messaging app, but a visual search engine. It will also help find the millions of AR effects, or Lenses, that are made by Snap’s creator community. According to The Verge, with its ability to suggest Lenses based on what you’re looking at, Scan could bring more visibility to the Lenses people make, incentivising them to keep making AR content for Snapchat.