GZV #44: Social Apps Galore
Morning to all of my new subscribers.
Summer is here and life is coming back to normal. I will be traveling around this summer to Charlotte, DC, New York, and Boston. Maybe even SF. If you’re in these areas and want to meet up, just shoot me an email. thomas@genzvoice.com.
Alright, let’s go.
I want to start with of course, Poparazzi.
Problem:
Social media platforms right now are “selfie driven”, people post pictures of themselves.
Solution:
Poparazzi gets rid of the selfie driven side of social media. You take and post photos of your friends. You are there Poparazzi, and they are yours.
Gen Z View:
This is a very interesting idea, and definitely drove my curiosity enough to check it out. It will do the same for other Gen Z’s.
Most Gen Z’s woman love supporting their friends, and this app allows them to do it freely and better than any other social media platform. I could really see it taking off in this space.
The UI/UX scheme is very appealing for Gen Z. The colors and pages are familiar, yet new. I would personally love to know their churn rates.
Something more:
The intro when you get into the app is awesome. Essentially, they launch a promo video for the app right when you open it. Your phone is vibrating, and the screen is flashing, a very appealing mix of actions for Gen Z.
Fundraising?
Seed round in 2018. I love the founders because they have founded other successful social media companies, such as TTYL.
If they are doing a round a16z probably already took all of it. (They love every social app.)
Clubhouse’s Identity Problem
I feel like I have wrote about these guys too much recently, but I felt this issuing was pressing enough that it deserved a quick write up.
This piece is obviously from a Gen Z perspective because this is where I feel Clubhouse’s identity is falling.
It is no secret that download rates have been plummeting for the once uber popular app. The app definitely won’t fail I just think they need to make the user experience a little more flawless, especially for Gen Z.
My usage of the app has plummeted in the past few months since I first got on it over winter break. Why? I don’t exactly know. I personally think it is because I stopped gaining value from the rooms that were being made. I think a lot of it became noise and too fake to join. Some of the rooms also just became to big to join. I didn't feel like I was able to gain enough value from them so I just left.
By the way, I feel pretty confident when I say I speak for my friends with all these feelings.
Just like when I was picking colleges, I love smaller classroom sizes, and I think a lot of other people agree with me. I want to be able to participate and have a reasonable conversation within these rooms.
A lot of the problems also come down to the quality of rooms I am seeing. Not a lot of rooms on my home screen are interesting enough to join, and in the end of the day, people leave because of this.
Clubhouse simply just needs to remove the “noise” from the platform, which with their team, I believe they are very capable of doing.
Cheers!