How Next Generation Social Media will look like

Snap, Sling or Beme ? The world’s fastest changing communication technology (social media) is changing. Again! If you think using hashtags makes you social media savvy, well, than you have some catching up to do.

With upcoming apps like Beme, SlingShot from FB and the success of SnapChat there is a whole new language and social sharing features emerging and paving the way for next generation social media.

So far SnapChat has been the closest thing to a successful next gen social media app. It has changed how social content is shared and viewed in many ways. But also its growth and reach numbers have been mind-blowing.

Reports show that 24.79 million people viewed New York’s “Snowpocalyse” on SnapChat last January. The most popular TV show of fall 2014 averaged 21 million viewers per week. SnapChat had more views than the biggest hit on TV.

There have been many attempts by leading social networks to enter this space and be part of the next generation social media apps. The main wannabe competitor to SnapChat so far has been Mark Zuckerberg. In 2012 he tried to buy SnapChat for $3B and Evan Spiegel (SnapChat’s CEO and co-founder) refused.

In summer 2012 Facebook launched an app very similar to SnapChat called “Poke” and it flopped. In 2014 FB started another double attack on SnapChat with a new app called SlingShot and another one designed by the Instagram team called Bolt. Both apps seem to have had very little traction so far.

FB did not give up and made a major update for SlingShot in December 2014 fixing the main issues the app had. But with a below average communication strategy and without the use of social media influencers ,no wonder no one is using the app.

↓ More on SlingShot ↓

And here comes “Beme” a new app that is trying to redefine how social content is shared and it’s made by none other than the prominent YouTube star Casey Neistat. The concept of the app is similar to SnapChat and SlingShot because it also requires you to post content in real time.

In SnapChat and SlingShot you can’t upload pre-recorded videos or images (unless you jailbreak your iphone), and you are required to post right away but you do have a chance to edit, delete, or add drawings and filters.

However Beme adds two very interesting concepts to the way social content is shared. The app aims to give the users a less distracting experience when shooting and posting content. It only allows users to post unedited content.

Beme works with a proximity sensor that makes the app start recording once placed on your chest and starts posting immediately after removing the app from your chest, making it impossible to edit the content you are sharing. It’s slogan is: Share video. Honestly

You can’t actually post like this on Beme. You need your hand to take off the phone , its just me getting too excited with the app :), or maybe this will become an accessory with the next update

The idea is that instead of getting distracted with our phones in between us and the concert, sunset or whatever it is we want to share, we can enjoy what’s unfolding in front of us and let the app do the rest of the work.The app is currently locked but it will not take you long to find a code if you search #Beme on Twitter, or tweet me @zohny and I will provide you with a code.

Casey Neistat told TechCrunch that in the eight days since Beme’s launch, users have shared 1.1 million four-second videos, and sent 2.4 million photo reactions.

While I think the app is very innovative and is trying to bring more authenticity to social media, I am personally struggling to post things without reviewing them, adding filters and editing videos. These should at least be an option or maybe highlighted as “edited content” vs real time, real content.

You can’t actually post like this on Beme. You need your hand to take off the phone , its just me getting too excited with the app :), or maybe this will become an accessory with the next update

It remains to be seen how users will be able to differentiate and stand out with Beme’s (what you see is what you get) rules. The inability to edit or preview content will require a different approach to social stories, and it’ll be exciting to to see how it will evolve and which features will prove to be the pillars of the next generation social media app.

I am currently mainly posting on Instagram edited landscape images or posting stories on SnapChat. Follow me if you want to see more of these images→ @mozohny