Today, thousands of high school students across the country walked out of classrooms demanding gun control following the Parkland school shooting. Many are documenting their protests on Snapchat's Snap Map, which is helping to amplify their voices far beyond schools.
Since Snapchat launched Snap Map in June, the geo-locator has become a useful tool for on-the-ground footage of breaking news. Newscasters as well as family members and friends turned to the app during Hurricane Harvey for real-time views of the destruction. In February, Snapchat launched a desktop version of Snap Map, making it easier for news organization to access footage users choose to share publicly.
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Head to the online Snap Map or pinch to open the map on the app today and you'll see it filled with thumbnails marking high school walkouts. Regardless of where you live, you can see what's happening at Antioch High School in Antioch, TN, and watch in real-time as students congregate and chant in the quad. Or take a look at Yukon High School, 700 miles away from Antioch in Yukon, Oklahoma, and watch as students observe 17 minutes of silence in honor of the 17 lives lost at Marjory Douglas High School. At Narcoossee High School in St. Cloud, Florida, hundreds band together in a circle and listen in support as their fellow students speak.
Today's activity on Snap Map serves as a reminder of the political power of students and shows how a generation of digital natives are capturing activism on their phones. The hundreds of scattered thumbnails on the map hammer home the fact that, in spite of our country's current political climate, there is power in numbers.
Students began walkouts at 10 a.m. ET and will continue protesting throughout the day.
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