Snapchat is launching online magazine Real Life to have an informed discussion on the Internet

Snapchat is getting into the online magazine space with Real Life, a platform meant to have a more informed discussion about the Internet, on the Internet. The problem that Real Life wants to fix, and the reason for its very meatspace name, is that people make a difference between the Internet and well, real life.

https://twitter.com/nathanjurgenson/status/743466028978536449

Snapchat researcher, and now editor in chief of Real Life, Nathan Jurgenson explained the purpose of the magazine in a long post on the magazine’s web site . The launch will be in typical over the top Snapchat style, with a screening of David Cronenberg classic Videodrome.

https://twitter.com/nathanjurgenson/status/743806401739374592

The magazine hopes to take away the online discourse of technology from experts and technology journalists, and provide a platform for a broader range of views and opinions. The problem Real Life hopes to solve, is the perceived dichotomy between the real and the virtual, which is a dualist perspective, similar to the mind body divide. However, what humans put online is very much an extension of their physical lives and real emotions. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat are all channels where the most shared and consumed content is all very real, and often very personal.

Real Life will publish about one article a day, hoping to deliver complex and nuanced perspectives. This is a new kind of social media reporting, one that does not come from the background of a traditional media company. The magazine will stay away from news, reviews or undue focus on specifications. Instead it will talk about broader topics involving the relationships between humans and technology.