Author: Matthew Taylor

Clubhouse has this week announced big changes to its app. The company says that its new focus is on friendships, new and old, and it hopes to achieve that through its audio messaging ‘chats’.

Clubhouse was established in March 2020 and achieved a lot of success in the pandemic. It has millions of users and invites people to have live audio chats on the platform. The idea is that more context, more tone and more personality can be shared through audio based communication. The app is now, not removing the live chat feature, but shifting its focus to smaller and closed audio based messaging groups. 

Clubhouse wants to become like a house party. It said in a blog post that the new ‘friend of friend’ messaging chats will create ‘a nice dinner or house party vibe, where people have shared social context and feel accountable. There are no randoms, no spammers, and no people trying to gain followers at your expense.’

During the pandemic, it says it was easy for people to find relevant live content that appealed to them, but when life has gone a bit more back to normal, live chats have been less useful as people are less often all congregated on the app at the same time. Chats combat this by being something users can far more easily check in on throughout the day, rather than need to be their live.

The app argues that voice notes lead to a more social experience where people express more of their personality and say things they would never type out. One of the biggest changes to the app, is that one way follows will now turn into friend requests. Those who have worked to create a huge following on the platform might find this particularly frustrating and a hassle.

Now the focus is on smaller group chats, where voice notes can be shared throughout the day. Messages can be listened to on double time speed for those in a rush. And they are all transcribed for those in an environment at the time where they cannot listen. 

The app is making a shift that we are seeing all over. Smaller, more personal groups, where people’s voices (literally) in this case can be heard and valued are becoming more and more attractive, than the chaos of social networks, in which the whole world is your potential audience. This shift puts the social back into social apps.

Letterboxd is a platform in which you can track and rate every movie you have ever watched, share your reviews, and see what your friends are watching. And Goodreads does much the same for books. They are both major hubs online for lovers of films and books. And they have in their own right become social discovery platforms that service their audience.

Both have been around for over 10 plus years, but it could be argued it was the pandemic that really boosted their numbers. Goodreads is now owned by Amazon, and is often credited with making or breaking the success of authors and books. And Letterboxd boasts over 9 million users. At the start of the pandemic, that number was only 1.3 million.

Through both platforms you can respectively see what books or films your friends are watching and what they think of them. One survey showed that it is in user generated content like this that makes social discovery platforms enticing and useful to users. The survey showed that people did not take the recommendations of influencers too seriously, and are much more swayed by recommendations of friends they know and can trust.

Letterboxd was created by New Zealand pair Matthew Buchanan and Karl Von Randow, and operates a free and subscription based model. That site is free to read for all, but only signed up users can leave reviews. Subsequently, fee paying members gain access to a host of features such as a “year in Review” of their watching. 

Social discovery apps are growing in popularity, partly because they are smaller than the world of traditional social media, where everything and everyone is fighting for attention and spotlight. On sites that explore one particular topic, one niche, it is much easier to find a community that is like minded with you, and to be heard. They might have huge user bases, but used in the right way,Letterboxd and Goodreads can be places of community and social discovery for you and your friends.

BeFake is a networking app that rejects the drive towards authenticity – claiming that movement is inauthentic itself. BeFake has raised $3 million in seed funding and launched on Google Play and Apple Store in August.

In a clear response to apps like BeReal, the app operates similarly but completely differently. Users still get sent a push notification for a window of time to take both a back and front picture on their smartphone. Unlike BeReal which offers no filters and no frills, BeFake users can then use already predetermined suggestions or insert their own AI prompts to completely transform their image entirely. The result might transform them into a mythical creature, or place them on top of the grand canyon. The results are aesthetic, surreal and completely different to the real world. 

The app has been set up by Alias Technologies, which was founded in 2021 by Kristen Garcia Dumont and Tracy Lane. They previously operated in the mobile gaming space for Machine Zone. Alias technologies is a 12 person team and raised $3 million in funding at the end of last year, with investors such as Next Coast Ventures, Maveron Ventures, Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale and WS Investments

There is a 20 minute window everyday that is free for all users, but the app offers a subscription model that cost $2.99 per week, $9,99 a month or $9.99 for the year, that removed restrictions form people’s use of the AI image generated content. 

It takes about 30 seconds but often much less time for the AI image to be generated and users can flip between the original and Ai image back and forth. Post are then shared to a discovery feed on the app or can be posted on other social media platforms.

Social media is a place many have argued has become completely inauthentic. What we have seen is some apps completely rebel against that to tackle the problem. BeFake tackles it in another way. It leans into and embraces the inauthenticity. No one using this app is claiming to be showing them true self – but within it perhaps they are able to show their true creative personality instead. 

Social discovery and friend finding apps at their core are about improving people’s mental health. One of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your life, is surround yourself with supportive friends. But sometimes, getting help from someone who doesn’t know who you are, can allow you to be more open, with less at stake for your day to day life. One social discovery app for farmers has taken this exact route to help combat mental health issues in the industry.

AgTalk is a Canadian based app launched by the Do More Agriculture Foundation (DMAF) this year. This time of year can be particularly stressful for farmers when harvesting. How well crops turn out can have huge financial implications. Farmers’ days are long and their stress is high. But a lot of their long hours will be spent in machinery where they have time to talk. The AgTalk app for Canadian farmers over the age of 16, anonymously matches up farmers from across the country to share and talk, and provide support to one another. 

Megz Reynolds is the executive director of DMAF and she said recently:

“During harvest you’ve got a lot of time that you’re sitting in a piece of equipment, so you can phone a friend and have a chat, reach out to someone and make sure you’re staying connected. We’re really encouraging individuals who may be in a good place to also sign up for AgTalk to be there, to be that support person for other people in the industry who are going through things that they might have a better understanding of.”

It’s a super interesting approach and idea to social discovery. At its best social discovery reduces loneliness and provides quality human connection. Sometimes that is best when it comes from someone who you know you might never bump into again. You can offload your worries, be vulnerable, and not worry about awkwardness in the future. It’s actually quite a powerful thing. As much as long-lasting supportive friendships can improve your mental health – the power of such anonymous interactions can be super beneficial in the short term. 

AgTalk is, as said, targeted at the farming industry, and users are monitored 24/7 by mental health clinicians to ensure the app is fulfilling its purpose. It would be interesting to see if the anonymous approach to social discovery is a trend we see emerge in different sectors and for different audiences in the coming years.