Snap has just launched a new service that allows webmasters to use their image preview technology. This new service, known as Snap Preview Anywhere allows visitors to get an image preview of the web site a link goes to when they hover their mouse over the link. The service is completely free and Snap has over 300 million stored web site images, so unless the page is brand new, they will have an image preview of it. These previews only appear for links that direct to other web sites, and webmasters can choose if they want the preview to appear for any external links.
This new service could be of great use to many webmasters; however, there are many potential problems. First of all, the image preview feature may annoy users if a site contains many links, and having preview images popping up frequently may cause them to leave. Hence, Snap Preview Anywhere should only be used on web sites with few links. Another potential problem is that there is no way to monetize this toy, so you need to see how your visitors respond to image previews. Another turn-off for webmasters is that in each Snap page preview box is a Snap search box that directs your visitor to Snap.com if used.
The service was just released and has already been generating a lot of buzz. In my opinion, this new service would work great with blogs. Someone has already created a Wordpress plug-in that makes installing and using Snap Preview Anywhere on a Wordpress blog very easy.
You can get a preview and download the program here and be sure to leave a comment and tell us what you think.
