Why Snapchat's End of Year Story Review Is Being Trolled By Users Online

Snapchat is the latest social media platform to debut an end of year roundup, but this feature is not being quite as warmly received as many of its competitors have been.

The last couple of weeks has seen annual recaps going up on almost every conceivable website. Reddit published a list of its most upvoted posts, while Google announced its top search trends of the year and Instagram debuted a brand-new Playback feature. Then, of course, you have Spotify Wrapped, which gives users the opportunity to share insights about their own music taste with friends.

Following this widespread trend, Snapchat released its own "Year in Review" on Tuesday, December 14. If you've never used this feature before, it essentially creates a montage of images and videos from the past 12 months using memories that you have saved in the app.

Speaking of which, the highlight reel is accessible by going into the "Memories" section of Snapchat and then finding the story titled "A Look at 2021." After you have watched it privately, you will then be presented with the option to share it with other users.

If you cannot find your Year in Review, this is likely because you did not save enough memories in 2021 to give the app sufficient material to work with.

While the Year in Review feature might sound fairly innocuous (and not dissimilar from the roundups you get on other websites), it has been roundly criticized online.

In particular, users are mocking the feature for inappropriately describing memories in a way that doesn't quite capture the right tone. Snapchat looks for certain keywords to come up with accompanying text here, but it doesn't always reflect the context of the actual image itself.

Here are some of the best reactions to this treasure trove of unintentional comedy.

Social Media Users Roast Snapchat Year in Review

One common example is the "You hung out with your furry friends" card, which has been stuck in front of everything from users grieving over a beloved pet, to drivers hitting deer with their car, dead rats, mounted taxidermy, and even just selfies of people with fake eyelashes.

Elsewhere, there is another card that celebrates good times and laughs from 2021. This one has been associated with some truly bizarre highlights. For instance, it's appeared before a story about somebody almost running over a dog and other generally unpleasant memories.

Not to mention it's even gone in front of somebody's post about suffering from diarrhea.

Some of them have near-perfect comedic timing (resembling memes), like this post from @leowarhier that shows a fun road trip graphic—accompanied by the text "you got out of town"—before a hard cut to an image of a wrecked vehicle.

Likewise, the upbeat "You Stayed Up Late" memories (clearly intended to go before images of parties and nights out) are almost invariably of people looking beleaguered and utterly exhausted.