Snapchat to Shutter Lens Store

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Snapchat of Venice announced Wednesday that it is shutting down its lens store on Friday to focus its efforts on advertising.

The company had been selling premium special effects lenses for $1 each since November. When Snapchat started charging for some of its lens, it received backlash on social media from some users who were used to a completely free app.

Snapchat’s lens features add special effects to videos and pictures, such as making it appear that users were vomiting rainbows or had bug eyes in their videos and pictures.

While the sale of lenses will go away, Snapchat said it will continue to give away some lenses for free and will continue sponsored lens. “The Peanuts Movie,” for example, sponsored a campaign in October that inserted characters such as Snoopy into users’ pictures and videos. At the time, Snapchat was selling sponsored lens campaigns for up to $750,000 a day, according to the Financial Times.

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.

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