There is a new player in the social media world, ready to take on the likes of Facebook and Instagram. And it’s already broken the Internet quite literally!
It functions like Instagram, where you can post pictures, but also also allows you to add web links, music from your subscribed service, places and more. On the News Feed, you will see your posts as well as the posts of people you connect with or follow.
Although it’s been around since 2015, Vero received a huge boost during the past couple of weeks and the surge in users caused the app to have a few technical problems.
People are flocking to Vero, as it’s ad-free and organized chronologically, as opposed to Facebook and Instagram’s algorithm-driven feeds, which have been turning away users.
In a Waypoint exclusive interview, we asked John Beasley, CMO at Vero how it was that Vero is redefining social media?
“The clue is in the name: Social Media. Other Social Networks work for the advertiser: that is their customer, and they work to perfect the advertising service by mining data and using algorithms to perfectly push targeted advertising messages. By starting out with a subscription-based business model, the user is our customer, so everything is focussed on making the service better for them. We have removed the ads, the algorithms and the data mining and put control back in the hands of the user.”
As with the other social networks, your news feed features posts of the people you follow, and they can be photos, text etc. When choosing your contacts, you can choose which category you would like them to go into either close friends, friends or acquaintances, meaning you don’t need to share every post with everyone.
The app is currently free to download on the App Store yet an annual subscription fee will be introduced eventually. Initially the first million subscribers were going to get the app for free, but due to the technical difficulties encountered, Vero has extended the free subscription fee until further notice. The annual fee means Vero will not have to rely on advertisers like the other networks.
Waypoint is a Hampshire based social media consultancy based in Winchester. If you would like to undertake a strategic review of your social media marketing please get in touch at [email protected] or call 01962 862760.
