That question, “What’s your spirit animal?” was asked and answered 425,652 times last year on ASKfm, but we hadn’t thought to ask it to ourselves until last autumn. So while the ASKfm team spent the last part of 2015 thinking about and working on the evolution of the app, we found this little guy chilling out among the other 150M people in the ASKfm community. And he was us.
Meet Owlcat
This adorable beast is half cat — a naturally curious creature — and half wise owl. The combined spirit exactly captures an app experience that is far more connected and meaningful for its fans than anyone here had ever imagined. ASKfm’ers share a desire to understand other people — including themselves. Owlcat is our spirit animal. He feeds on questions and answers, zipping around ASKfm to help spark new thinking.
For so long, people thought ASKfm was only about randomly sent anonymous questions. But in our quest to understand the real value of ASKfm we discovered we had outgrown our original brand. In truth, ASKfm is a unique, lighthearted place that supports the natural curiosity we all have for the people we already know — and want to know better.
Collective Curiosity
We live in a world with access to unfathomable amounts of information — the barrage of questions we ask Google reflects that. But all of us are curious about more than just facts and information. As social creatures, we are curious about what other people think, feel and experience. This is the type of curiosity that builds relationships, creates connections, and sparks new ideas about ourselves. Discovering new things about our friends and the other people that interest us will always be among the most meaningful discoveries we make. We redesigned ASKfm to capture this curious lighthearted place where you can learn more about your friends — and even yourself.
The New ASKfm
The new app will still seem familiar — the core interactions are intact. You can ask questions, sometimes anonymously, and see all the answers friends have given in a personalized feed. Since acquisition last year, the company focused on safety and now anyone can tap into their human curiosity feeling welcomed and in control. What is different about the new ASKfm is the personality of the app, the ease and simplicity of connecting with friends, and ability to show off each person’s own unique personality.
- Tap into who to know by connecting with friends and expanding beyond the users of ASKfm to your contact list
- Give fun visual answers whether a photo, video or GIF — there are more options to convey the emotions, thoughts and feelings that really show off your personality
- Discover great users with promoted content and interesting online personalities like Rickey Thompson, Anna Clendening, Liza Koshy, and Alex Ernst.
Of course, a new product is more than just its symbols, but we’re excited about the entire redesigned ASKfm experience, including our new spirit animal. Every single page — across every platform — is redesigned to bring our new identity to life and reflect the fun, interesting and curious people who make up this community. We know we are just at the start of a path that requires the ASKfm team to be curious about ourselves: What can we do better? How can we change to better suit our users? What can we learn from everyone here? Thanks Owlcat for the inspiration.
— Your friends at ASKfm
