Snapchat launches Real Life Magazine. What started out as nothing more than an obscure mobile platform, Snapchat, currently boasts more than 150 million daily users – and these users spend an average of 25 to 30 minutes on the app each day. Now, the four-year-old company is embarking on a digital magazine called Real Life that will cover the world of technology.

According to Snapchat’s social media critic Nathan Jurgenson, who will serve as Real Life’s editor-in-chief, the online magazine will feature “essays, arguments, and narratives about living with technology.” And Jurgenson says: “it won’t be a news site with gadget reviews or industry gossip. It will be about how we live today and how our lives are mediated by devices.” Interestingly, Real Life won’t live within the Snapchat app – it will live on the web, making its way to not only your mobile but also your desktop.

So why produce a magazine? Because content is the best kind of marketing you can create. Real Life is content marketing in action. If Snapchat can establish a new level of awareness, drive more eyeballs, release and discuss interesting new products and services, curate a bigger, better following and ultimately create value for their users while expanding their footprint, then they are indeed fully harnessing a powerful trend. For a little more on Real Life, check out the following articles and then take a look at the online mag itself in the last link:

Venture Beat – Snapchat is starting Real Life, an online magazine about technology

Snapchat doesn’t just care about video. The company is behind a new online magazine called Real Life, which will publish roughly one article each weekday on the subject of technology.

TechCrunch – Snapchat funds ‘Real Life’ internet magazine examining tech and modern life

If you’ve been aching for some high-minded chatter on the topic of how we, as social animals living in a postmodern society, interact with and are affected by social media and technology, you’re in luck. Snapchat is funding a site called “Real Life” on which just such chatter will be published.

Real Life – Living with Technology

Real Life is a magazine about living with technology. The emphasis is more on living. We publish one essay, advice column, reported feature, or uncategorizable piece of writing a day, four or five days a week.