Marketers are bubbling with excitement to see a new platform which has the millennial demographic tightly within its grasp. Vero is a gorgeous mobile only social media platform that is breathing a breath of fresh air into the digital space. Vero promises to be a new kind of social network, one that lets you share content with specific sets of friends, doesn’t allow ads, and delivers posts in a chronological feed instead of one controlled by an algorithm.
Vero’s app has also been slow, unresponsive, or is simply crashing altogether for some users — likely because of the recent influx of users.
Connections that matter
Here’s where Vero starts to differentiate from other social networks: When you accept a friend request or make a new connection on Vero, you can decide how you want to classify those connections. New friends will default to “Acquaintance,” but you can classify any of your contacts as acquaintances, friends, or close friends. This can allow you to share content with your close friends, that your boss won’t see.
No Algorithms (yet)
When you post content in Vero, it will appear in your feed chronologically rather than sorted using an algorithm like on Instagram. One of the biggest differences between Vero and nearly every other social platform is that the network doesn’t use any algorithms to determine what & when you will see things. (We say yet, but we will see.)
In theory, you will always see the content being shared from those you have chosen to follow or that you have connected with on the network. You can direct message inside Vero but only to people you have connected with.
With the recent changes to Instagram’s algorithm, the organic reach of posts and stories have dropped by more then 25% in the last month. This has business and revenue implications.
Vero claims that you will never see ads on the platform and that it will rely on a subscription model instead. For many people, Instagram and Facebook have been ruined by the constant stream of ads popping up in their feeds. For others, ads is how a new business can be launched, a product sold or services acquired. Many businesses rely on social media advertising to keep their business afloat.
No more cropping photos
Instagram forces you to crop your images to conform to the network’s square sizing. For vertical images, you have to upload (or crop an image) into the 4:5 ratio. It is recommended that you upload or crop horizontal images into the square 1:1 ratio rather then their full size since it takes up more screen real-estate. Many users are finding that resizing an image in instagram incorrectly prevents the auto posting using scheduling tools. With Vero this isn’t an issue. Full sized images are uploaded and displayed beautifully on the platform.
The business angle
Meaning a business or solopreneur can have it’s products available for purchase right in the mobile app. This still has some bugs to work out, but the concept is great. This will eliminate one more click that your potential customers have to take. It’s one less barrier to entry to finding paying customers.
Vero is a gorgeous network with big potential. The user experience is seamless (once the platform stops crashing) and it’s quite an attractive app. Keep your eyes on this network to see how it fits within the current monsters of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
For more information on Vero, feel free to connect with us.
