Where Vero Fell Short and the Great Howdoo Conquers.
If you have a Facebook, Twitter, or any form of social media for that matter you probably saw your “friends” downloading this new app called Vero in something like a blood-fueled piranha frenzy. It was categorically insane how quickly the popularity of the new found interface spread. Black-plague level quick. We’re talkin’ The Flash quick.
The official statistics say that within 24 hours of February 28th, they added 500,000 members and by March 1st had 3 million.
Certainly, the market is reacting this way for a reason. Was it something special that Vero had? A perfect storm of frustration of abuse by Facebook and other social media platforms selling away our data to the big bad corporate bullies? Unfulfilling algorithms that left us wanting better content? I personally believe it was a combination of these things — and not to downplay Vero’s immediate success, which was absolutely impressive — I think they could have done better. A whole lot better.
#DELETEVERO
When I went to engage with the app I was a disenfranchised Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, any form of social media I could get my hands on user, looking for something different and surprise — Vero wasn’t that… which is why I opened it once and never again… just like something close to 90% of the other users. The promise of chronological news feeds was alright, the interface was kind of pretty and beyond that… nothing.
A promise as stable as a straw house lined the bottom of their app:
“Vero only collects the data we believe is necessary to provide users with a great experience and to ensure the security of their accounts.”
Oh so wonderfully complimented by the fact that users couldn’t even delete their own accounts. You had to submit a request to their team.
Their CEO, Ayman Hariri, is son of a disgraced businessman and former Prime Minister of Lebanon whose business was closed down with something like 3.5bn in debt. The co-founding partner had yet to pay something like 9,000 Filipino workers from his last company and so as this trend of centralized unethical behavior came to light — the #DELETEVERO movement started.
The foundation of your house is paramount to its stability and what is there to say about the foundation of Vero besides it was the tech manifestation of a pit of quicksand.
Something I heard and internalized during my time working and mentoring in Silicon Valley was “don’t build a company off of something that can be featurized,” which is exactly what Vero did. A linear engagement that offered no depth beyond a quick promise of an organized timeline (that anyone could implement,) which in retrospect leaves me wondering how they ever thought they would legitimately compete with the world changing powers that control Facebook… or that Facebook controls. I’m still working out who runs who.
So how do we stop this from happening in the future?
Being Radical.
The answer in my mind is clear. Radical change. And more so than ever, radical change is available to us. Something something breakneck speeds of developing tech. So where is all this radically different stuff? Momma’ didn’t raise no complainer so I want actionable alternatives. Things I can dive into and really be passionate about.
I think I might have found one of them.
Howdoo.
“What’s Howdoo?!”
Well I’m glad you asked.
From what I’ve gathered Howdoo is our best alternative to the powers that be. I’ll say it definitively: Howdoo is our best option for taking control of social media. A new hope… our Luke.
After reading over Howdoo’s whitepaper a few times it becomes clear to me that we can qualify our current issues with social media in a few succinct points — and I’ll also preface that I love that Howdoo not only prompts us issues on the forward facing side, but also addresses that advertisers are people too and they need better options to connect with us in a meaningful way. If we’re takin’ all the data they use, we’ve gotta’ offer some type of alternative. OF COURSE we’re more important, but it’s still nice to see a team considering every piece of the puzzle.
At its core Howdoo is a decentralized (ooooh ahhhh) social media platform, and yes, I know it’s a buzzword but this probably one of the most immediately applicable use cases of a distributed system I’ve ever seen. They assert complete ownership of your own digital footprint… and beyond that being able to sell your own data and content when you want with full control. There’s decentralized communities that can vote and receive monetary compensation for their collective efforts. They incentivize contributing behavior within their reward system — the more consistently you contribute and in a positive way the more of their token you receive and the inverse is true as well. The more of a jackass you are online, the less cha-ching you get. Sounds good to me… and there’s honestly a whole lot more.
Let’s start with the problems.
The Issues:
1. We have no control over our personal data being sold to advertisers (Facebook anyone?).
2. Content creators are NOT being fairly compensated.
3. Users are unable to regulate the amount of advertising they receive.
4. Anti-social behavior and poor moderation can easily corrupt budding communities.
5. Moving money across borders is time consuming, frustrating and even expensive.
6. Advertisers and sellers are effectively disconnected from online customers, removing all intimacy from the experience of customer engagement.
7. Advertisers have little to no control over their current campaigns.
The Solutions:
1. An immutable level of data ownership… No more of these monopolies selling our info. All decentralized. All ours.
2. Content creators receiving more than just “fair” compensation. A unique wallet and token system will be in place to ensure that you receive a piece of all advertising engaged while eliminating cross-border constraints.
3. Monetary incentivization as a vehicle for responsible behavior and engagement. Their words are “we want to push a decentralized agenda, and ensure no central controls exist. We believe in a userfirst approach, allowing individuals and communities to democratically regulate their own content — and to make collective decisions on monetizing the advertising potential of their work. More participation means more success, which means more money.”
Sounds bad-ass to me.
4. Allowing advertising to become an honest and engaging experience through delivery of meaningful, in-depth metrics for the individual, community and advertiser previously unavailable on any platform. From membership metrics to proof of contribution — we have it.
The Consumer Drives Change
So here we are, sitting here pissed off at these corporate overlords selling our data — not even to mention Youtube harvesting our children’s info while offering a completely lackluster product — and we have this beautiful alternative right in front of us.
We control our own data in Howdoo. We control how we’re monetized within Howdoo. We can be PAID to post the same dumb meme’s in Howdoo. Our conversations are ours. Our content is ours.
This is how social media was meant to be.
It seems like a no-brainer to me. The market is yearning for an alternative and it’s clear in how we rushed to Vero like a toxic rebound.
Let’s use a platform actually designed for us to thrive inside of. The power of social media is undeniably world-shaping.
This is Instagram, Whatsapp, Youtube, and Facebook bundled into one system that serves us.
We should be the ones with the power to shape the world. Not Mr. Moneybags Zuckerberg.
If Howdoo sounds like a bad-ass opportunity to you, join me at the ICO or hop into the Telegram and ask about anything Howdoo related.
You can follow me on Twitter at @apqllyqn for more crypto content.
