Social app Vero gaat viral: True to life en geen irritante social media algoritmes
De social app Vero is uit 2015. Het is een nieuw sharing-platform dat zich afzet tegen de grote irritaties aan Instagram en Facebook: de algoritmes. Het zijn de technieken die steeds meer bepalen wat wij wel of niet zien. Heel irritant want spontaan ben je connecties en content kwijt of komt een bepaalde post wel heel vaak langs. De app Vero maakt daar korte metten mee.
De potentie en de belofte
De app – al gedoopt als het nieuwe Instagram en is spontaan viraal gegaan en heeft er richting de miljoen nieuwe gebruikers bij wereldwijd. De bijnaam van Vero: ‘social network that lets you be yourself.’ Daarom de naam Vero, wat ‘echt’ betekent:
Vero – True to life.
Featured as best new app in over 100 countries, Vero makes sharing online more like real life. That means naturally choosing which posts get seen by who – whether it’s a photo, a song, a book or movie recommendation, a cool restaurant or a great article.
Now you can share more, always being sure who will and won’t see your posts.
• Categorise your contacts as ‘close friends’, ‘friends’ or ‘acquaintances’.
• Stay in full control of who hears what about you.
• Share experiences freely with your different contact groups.
• Branch out and publish your Vero posts to your Facebook and Twitter audience.
• Photos, Links, Music, Movies, Places and Books shared with you by your contacts are classified into collections.
• Send and receive instant messages with those you’re connected to.*Named by Apple in their ‘Best New Apps’ category within 159 countries, September 2015
Questions, concerns or feedback?
Get in touch. Email support@vero.co
Klik hier voor de Android app.
De belofte die Vero vanuit zijn oprichters geeft:
PEOPLE NATURALLY SEEK CONNECTION.
THAT’S WHY ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS HAVE BEEN SO WIDELY ADOPTED OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS.THEY OFFERED THE PROMISE OF CONSTANT CONNECTION AND THE MEANS TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH FRIENDS AND TO SHARE WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR LIVES.
BUT AS TIME PASSED, AN IMBALANCE BEGAN TO FORM BETWEEN THE INTERESTS OF THE PLATFORMS AND THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE USERS. AND A FALSE SENSE OF CONNECTION LEFT US LONELIER THAN EVER. IN REAL LIFE, PEOPLE ARE NEVER PRESENTED WITH A ONE SIZE FITS ALL AUDIENCE. WE SHARE DIFFERENT THINGS WITH DIFFERENT PEOPLE. MOST SOCIAL NETWORKS REDUCE EVERYONE TO A FRIEND OR A FOLLOWER. THIS ENCOURAGES US TO ONLY SHARE THE PARTS OF OUR LIVES WE THINK ARE THE MOST INTERESTING. WHEN YOU CAN CONTROL WHO SEES WHAT, YOU CAN BEHAVE IN A WAY THAT IS MORE NATURAL, WHICH WE BELIEVE ENDS UP BEING BETTER FOR YOU.
SO WE DECIDED TO CREATE SOMETHING MORE AUTHENTIC. WE CREATED A SOCIAL NETWORK THAT LETS YOU BE YOURSELF. HENCE THE NAME VERO. MEANING TRUTH.
WE MADE OUR BUSINESS MODEL SUBSCRIPTION-BASED. MAKING OUR USERS OUR CUSTOMERS, NOT ADVERTISERS.THE GREATEST SOCIAL NETWORK IS THE ONE THAT ALREADY EXISTS BETWEEN PEOPLE. VERO’S MISSION IS TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE ONLINE.
Wat is het dan?
Vero wil vooral geen irritant social media netwerk zijn. Naast afbeeldingen delen, laat de app je ook boeken, series en films beoordelen en aanraden aan je community. Ook kun je – anders dan op Instagram als je geen geverifieerd account hebt – linkjes delen en bepaal je zelf aan welke groepen je je posts deelt.
Forbes legt wat meer de ‘gedachte’ achter Vero uit:
The issues have continued into the beginning of the work week as Vero will launch and display your feed, but no new updates have come in and post activity won’t update. At the most, you’ll see that “Someone” liked links or wants to connect with you.
Talking with Ayman Hariri, Vero’s CEO and co-founder, he mentioned that a trick to getting your feed to update is to leave the app open (though even that is timing out for me on the server side at the moment). When I asked him about the influx and how they’re handling it, he sighed “This is not the experience we want to give our users.”
Vero has worked hard since their founding to provide its users with the best possible experience and, indeed, when I found Vero last week, I was most impressed with how it didn’t feel like a “new” service. When I mentioned that to Ayman, he was thrilled. “People deserve better than the ‘minimal viable’ experience. The minimal viable experience should be the best version of their vision. It should be worth the time you put in to it.”
Of Vero echt is opgewassen tegen alle nieuwe gebruikers, is nog maar de vraag gezien de enorme overbelasting maar ook de belofte van echte transparantie en het weghouden van advertenties en irritante algoritmes. Daarbij moeten we niet vergeten dat ook Hyves, Twitter en Facebook groeistuipen hadden.
As a company that prides itself on transparency, Hariri assured me that they will release an official statement soon on how they’re going to handle the influx of new traffic and when we can expect Vero to get back to normal.