In between classes and bites of breakfast, Communication junior Sofia Kuta runs the Dogspotting Snapchat account. Dogspotting is a public Facebook group where more than 586,000 members can post photos of dogs they see. The Daily sat down with Kuta to talk about how she got the job, what makes a good “doggo” photo and where she sees the Dogspotting brand going in the future.

The Daily: How did you come across the opportunity to run the Dogspotting Snapchat account?
Kuta: It all goes back to my friend, who actually added me to the Dogspotting Facebook group over a year ago. That Facebook group is their main base — there are over 500,000 people in that group. I started contributing my own spots. I’d tag my friends in a bunch of posts on the daily. At some point in early April, I realized that it’d be really cool if there was a Dogspotting Snapchat story on your feed that’s purely dogs. I messaged the president on Facebook inquiring about a Snapchat account and they said that they did in fact have one, but no one could manage it. So I was like, well, let me introduce myself! I sent them my resume, and three weeks later, they gave me the position.

The Daily: What kind of content goes on the Snapchat, and what’s your schedule like?
Kuta: For now, what I’ve been doing a lot of is taking the best Facebook content and uploading it to Snapchat through my camera roll. During breakfast, I go through and post a couple. There are so many submissions during the day that whenever I have a free moment, I’ll save it and upload it. People have been sending Snapchats of their own. Most of the content now is from the group.

The Daily: What do you like about running the account?
Kuta: It’s a very simple job, so I really enjoy picking out what’s going to make people’s day. The Snapchat story really is your daily dose of doggos — you can just go through and have this great feed of dogs. The thought that someone could be having a really hard day and just see this story of dogs. Even for myself, it’s really fun to go through — not that I don’t do it on my own time, but for the purpose of the Snapchat.

The Daily: Have you dealt with any drawbacks while managing the account?
Kuta: It’s not really a drawback, but a challenge — there’s so much content posted on the Dogspotting group that trying to spread the word is hard. I posted the graphic I used to advertise it, but unfortunately it got lost (in the feed). They kept the Dogspotting submissions pin as their top post on Facebook, so I’m trying to think of how to keep spreading awareness that the account exists.

The Daily: How does the Snapchat tie in to the rest of the Dogspotting social media presence, beyond Facebook?
Kuta: Dogspotting also has an Instagram account, but it’s also the best of the best — they don’t post super super often, and it’s not on a daily basis. The fun thing about Snapchat is making it a daily thing. It’s community-based and based on love for dogs — I don’t see the structure changing. They also have a website and an app, and they’re definitely going to be pushing to extend the app. They have a photo feed, and you can search posts and post your own pictures and score points.

The Daily: What kinds of photos get the most coverage and likes?
Kuta: I would say definitely dogs that are dressed up or exceptionally cute puppies! One spot I did was at a Cubs game that I went to, I spotted a dog with a Burberry print sweater, wearing a mini Cubs cap, and people loved that! I feel like they have to be aesthetically pleasing pictures in general — obviously blurry or zoomed-in ones don’t perform as well.

The Daily: How would you like to see the Dogspotting Snapchat expand in the future?
Kuta: For now, all we’ve been posting are pictures. I’m hoping I’ll be able to post videos. Unlike uploading camera photos, with videos, I can’t credit people — it becomes an ownership issue. What I would absolutely love and is more of communicating with Snapchat — you know how Snapchat will have the option to contribute your own Snaps to a certain feed. A lot of the campus stories were contributions – on campus, you could submit pics or whatever you wanted. I’d like to get it to where people can be submitting constantly to this feed — however, I’d have to have that conversation with Snapchat. If it gains the credibility and traction it’s getting, then maybe one day we can get there.

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Twitter: @rdanielle1995