If you were on social media at all this past weekend, you probably noticed Instagram users sharing links to their new Vero profiles. What’s Vero, you ask? We’re here to tell you.
The new social platform hopes to compete with Instagram and Facebook. Ayman Hariri, Motaz Nabulsi, and Scott Brinbaum created the app in 2015. Vero, which means “truth” in Esperanto, argues that its main selling point is the ability to share updates with friends with an ad and algorithm-free experience. The first million users will receive free subscriptions, and the 1,000,001st user and so-on will be required to pay an annual fee. Read more on Vero’s website here.
So what else is different about Vero? The app allows you to share more than just photos—making it a hybrid between Instagram and Facebook. Users can share photos and videos, links, movies, TV, music, books, and places. Users can label connections as “Close Friends, Friends, Acquaintances, and Followers.” Once you share a post on Vero, the posts are automatically archived into “Collections”—what Vero refers to as a “library of recommendations and passions.”
The app’s interface is visually appealing, but users have encountered a lot of bugs in the race to be one of the first million users. The bugs seem to be growing as time progresses, with several users reporting app stalls and crashes. Twitter users shared negative reviews of Vero’s logo design as well as confusion over what their first post should be.
People on Vero waiting for someone to post something pic.twitter.com/xKPiDMlN7q
— Kevin Parry (@kevinbparry) February 25, 2018
The question is, how long will Vero last? While an ad-free social platform is appealing to many, we’ve seen examples in the past of the idea being unsustainable. Take Snap for example—an app with a strong beginning and dedicated community, that seems to be plummeting after refusing a buy-out from Facebook and an attempt to stay as ad-free as possible. While social media users come to networks to share what they love, they also come to the networks to be told what they love. Which is why each platform we know and love eventually turns into a space for ads.
Another foreseeable issue for Vero is the money-making giant that is influencer marketing. Even if the platform stays true to their promise of being a commercial-free space, can they stop brands from contracting users with large followings to post ads? If so, they will most likely drive their most influential users away from their app, forcing us to return to Instagram.
What has your experience with Vero been like so far? Comment your opinions below and checkout Socialfly’s profile on the app, too!
