How it works: Snapchat is letting the selected companies use publicly submitted photos and videos that its users upload to its platform to create their own curated Snapchat "stories" (strings of related photos and videos) that live in Snapchat's Discover section.

• The launch partners are Brut, CNN, Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, Daquan, Dodo, Harper’s Bazaar, iHeart, The Infatuation, Jukin, Lad Bible, Love Stories TV, Mic, NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC, Today Show, New York Post, NowThis, Overtime, Refinery 29, Telemundo, The Tab, Viacom, Vice, Wave.TV and Whalar.
• Partners will cover areas of editorial expertise, meaning that a pet-focused site will curate publicly-available Snaps of animals, for example.
• Snapchat will give these editorial partners tools to create the "stories" (officially called "Our Stories") and some partners will also leverage their own talent to create and submit Snaps.

The bigger picture: Because Snapchat is so focused on making its camera the center of its platform, it tends to lure more real-time, on-the-ground documentation of real-life events than other social media platforms.

• This is why first responders look to Snapchat "stories" to find victims during natural disasters or why news organizations use Snapchat to find footage of gun protests from remote high schools around the country.

By the numbers: In the past month, Snapchat says over 75 million people have watched this type of content on Discover.

For the media geeks: Snapchat says it's offering a revenue share to its "Curation Partners" from day one through advertising.

Between the lines: Last winter, Snapchat launched a "Stories Everywhere" initiative that would allow users and news organizations to embed Snapchat content outside of its platform, with the hope of spreading its content further.

• Snap is hoping today's announcement will boost awareness of Snap's power to curate, since some of its media partners may ask users to add their own Snaps to their "stories."