The little ghosts of Snapchat have been taking over my Twitter feed this last month.

We’ve talked about how Snapchat is being used for a kind of citizen journalism. But not much has been said about how professional journalists and news outlets are using the app—at least not in Canada.

These little white ghosts on my Twitter feed have replaced the logos of news outlets like Huffington Post Canada and CBC Toronto, promoting their Snapchat coverage on Twitter.

Despite the publicity these organizations have given to their Snapchat accounts, they seem to still be experimenting with the tool, and each one of them seems to be using it a little differently.

The Toronto Star, for example, seems to be doing more basic coverage, like snaps of their front cover or notes about the weather.

Screenshots from the Toronto Star’s Snapchat on October 28.

On the other hand, Global News has taken to posting their headlines in a lighthearted style. Instead of images, they use more emojis. They also ask direct followers to go to their website for more on a specific story.

Screenshots from Global News’ Snapchat on October 28.

Still, more dramatically different are the posts Canadian Press reporter David Friend used to cover the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The coverage was much more personal and more in the style of something you would see on a video blog. Most of the snaps involve Friend talking to the camera about his day at TIFF, creating a relationship between Friend and the viewers that is not the stiff one of reporter to audience. For example, throughout the coverage, Friend mentions that he’s not interested in certain parties or that he was hardly able to keep his eyes open on the last day.

CBC Toronto is another outlet that’s been experimenting with Snapchat. Associate producer Nicole Brockbank says that one way they’ve used Snapchat is to cover Blue Jays games. A reporter went to the game and took videos and pictures of big moments. The reporter also used Snapchat to take casual streeters of people at the game. In that way, Snapchat seems to be useful for providing the experience of a specific moment or mood that the audience isn’t there to see. In fact, Huffington Post Canada covered a Raptors game the very same way.

Brockbank says that the CBC Toronto digital team is trying out the medium in different ways, but that ultimately, whatever reporters do with Snapchat, they would likely use it to stitch a narrative together.

It’s clear that Canadian media is toying with Snapchat, but it’s still unclear how big of a role it will play in future coverage. Brockbank says that she sees potential in using Snapchat to cover news in the field at some point in the future. The reporter would be on scene, take a couple of shots and provide an update on camera. But as always, time would be a factor. Would a reporter have time to cover a scene with all the existing methods as well as Snapchat?

So far, Snapchat doesn’t seem to be a place to cover every type of story, but the stories that do get covered there are being presented in a different context that’s often more lighthearted, personal and about the moment.

It’s 8:51 p.m. in Athens, just minutes before the decision on whether Greece should accept financial help from the rest of Europe will be announced. A cell phone captures footage of the crowds gathered outside the parliament building—some hold signs with the words “no, ox!” printed in bold black letters; others carry brightly-coloured flags that say “nai” (yes).

Nine minutes later, cheers erupt and Greek flags are waved in the air: the majority voted “no.” While many people read about the result of the Greek bailout referendum in the headlines the following day, Snapchat users from all corners of the world were able to experience it as it happened from the people who were there.

In recent years, a lot has been said about citizen journalism. The digital world has seen, and will continue to see, a rise in the number of distribution platforms available—making it easier for everyday people to report on stories in ways that were traditionally only done by journalists. Snapchat, a picture and video messaging app formerly used to exchange questionable selfies, has recently evolved as a storytelling tool and a reporting outlet.

With the introduction of a new “Our Story” feature earlier this year, Snapchat aimed to “build a storytelling format that puts the narrative first.” Footage is submitted by users and stitched together by editors, resembling a kind of live broadcast that isn’t typical of news outlets. Instead of being told through a single voice, these stories represent new perspectives.

The ability to easily document and share what’s going on in the world helps create a better sense of understanding. Drawing upward of 20 million views every day, Snapchat has expanded its platform to include coverage of festivals, sporting events, cultural practices and news. In July, Ramadan prayers in Mecca were live streamed after 100 million Muslims made the annual pilgrimage to the city in Saudi Arabia. TIME magazine wrote that the coverage was applauded because it shed a positive light on the event, changing the “negative global narrative surrounding Islam.”

Following the death of nine people in the South Carolina church shooting last June, Snapchat created a “Charleston Strong” live story. People expressed messages of love, support and grief—one snap showed scenes from outside the church, another showed a mourner carrying a flower for each victim.

Snapchat spokeswoman Shannon Kelly told the Washington Post that what they’re doing is all about community storytelling. In a time when news outlets can’t necessarily afford to have reporters stationed everywhere all the time, it’s never been more important to utilize the capabilities of individuals and their smartphones. Snapchat isn’t just telling stories—they’re connecting people through one of the most powerful storytelling tools: other people.