If you have noticed how many well-known photographers shared about using Vero recently, you aren’t alone. Here is a summary of what has made the latest social media trend so popular.
It has been all over social media this week. I first noticed it when a handful of photographers I follow shared on their Instagram stories that they were trying out Vero, the newest social media platform. It then trickled its way down to local photographers, stating how they are trying this new app and how you should too. Every day it is growing exponentially. And although Vero didn't create the platform for only photographers, it might be an excellent future option for us.
Vero was created by billionaire Ayman Hariri in 2015 because of his frustration with the user experience of Facebook and Twitter. He believed that the growing number of advertisements were taking over the mainstream options and the complicated algorithms created an experience that wasn’t authentic. He also noticed that the general function of sharing everything you post with every follower you have inhibited people from being genuine in their posts. In response, he started Vero, an alternative concept to social media.
So what makes Vero different? First, let’s talk about the user experience. Hariri believed that social media should let you be yourself. To do this, he has designed Vero to break up your followers into four categories: follower, acquaintance, friend, and close friend. When you share something, you can select which level of friend you want to be able to see the post, which in theory will allow you to be yourself to a greater degree. Vero’s website says it this way:
Most social networks reduce everyone to a friend or a follower. This encourages us to only share the parts of our lives we think are the most interesting. When you can control who sees what, you can behave in a way that is more natural, which we believe ends up being better for you.
Hariri also removed advertisements completely, which in turn means that there is no data mining or algorithms. Everything is simple. Your feed is always organized by post times in reverse chronological order. With no advertisements allowed, Vero will make money in a few different ways. First of all, they will eventually charge a yearly subscription fee, which is rumored to be around $5. They also will charge a transaction fee on any “Buy Now” posts. So, a business will be able to offer products to their followers that customers can pay for directly through Vero. Vero will then keep a transaction fee on all payments made through its app.
What does this mean for photographers? The response to Vero has been broad. Many have stated that the last thing they need is another social media platform to manage. The app is also very inconsistent right now, probably due to the number of users suddenly downloading it. On the other side of the coin, Vero has some appeal, especially if it takes off as some of the other big-name platforms have. The no advertisement and no algorithm plan makes sense for business owners who feel Facebook has blocked users from their business pages. The app is also beautiful and seems ideal for sharing photos or making product offerings to clients. Lastly, it's important to consider the value of joining the next trend in its early stages. Often people wait a few years to see if these ideas work out, and by then you are too far behind the others who started marketing on the app in its beginning.
Vero is currently the most recently downloaded free app in the Apple App Store. They are offering free subscriptions for life for their first 1,000,000 users, so if you are considering giving this new platform a shot, now is the time.
I got on before it blew up and I'm still testing the waters. The last few days it's been complete garbage and unusable. Which is typical for exploding cloud based apps and just needs time. Still, haven't been able to use it for 2 days.
Yeah I've been following them on twitter.
Also the way it displays photos drive's me nuts. There's color surrounding your image which shouldn't happen. It's layout is too busy when it should be providing a simple showcasing platform for work.
I personally don't mind the bordered layout. Obviously it's different than the white background of every other app, but I'm open to it
The purple/green border doesn't mesh well with certain types of photos and colors IMO.
I downloaded the weekend it blew up. I had a few brief hours to look around prior to everything crashing haha
Did you read the Terms of Service? Giving away your pictures royalty free...Section 2.1
"...you hereby do and shall grant Vero a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable right to use, modify, reproduce, and display such Customer Data (including all related intellectual property rights) to (i) provide the Services and (ii) improve the Services’ ability to deliver web and application analytics services to you."
Not to mention, there is no way currently to get out or delete your account. Just an FYI. To each their own.
This is also putting aside the huge controversy for its CEO's labor trafficking issues in Saudi Arabia
Every social media has this TOS in similar words, it's to protect themselves, it's not like they are going to sell anyone's images. They alter images by resizing them so their TOS gives them the right to do that.
True. Although Instagram explicitly states that it does not own any rights to the content and has a privacy policy that the content is subject to. Again, not a lawyer, so wouldnt know too much about these things.
"Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service, subject to the Service's Privacy Policy, available here http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/, including but not limited to sections 3 ("Sharing of Your Information"), 4 ("How We Store Your Information"), and 5 ("Your Choices About Your Information")."
Vero says the same:
"You are and shall remain the owner of the User Content (as defined in Section 2 below) you create, provide or otherwise make available through the Service and Vero claims no ownership rights to your User Content; however, in this Agreement you grant Vero a limited license to your User Content to: (a) provide the Service; and (b) to use your User Content for the limited uses identified in our Privacy Policy. "
Correct. All commercial platforms use a similar TOS.
This wording is required. Without it, you could, theoretically, upload a photo and then sue them for storing and sharing your image to your audience from their server.
To delete your account you have to click on the Dashboard icon, then click on the question mark (upper left) and then select from the Drop down "Choose a Department" and then select Delete my account. I did that a few days ago but they replied that they are so overwhelmed that they will delete the account when possible.
For me if they take the time to reply to an email, I think it should be easier to just delete my account. Doesn't seem like a professional service. Not to mention it's riddled with porn.
Thats good to know. I just deleted the app from the phone, it was barely even logging me on. I'll wait until its stable to actually delete the account properly. Thanks!
Guy with no background in software wants to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google Photos. Good luck!
He actually has a computer science degree.
You do realise that half of today apps and software is also founded by people with no background in software.
Oh, he's trying to replace half the apps, is he? Not the ones I mentioned? Not the ones already established on pretty groundbreaking insights into either software engineering or social interaction? He's not just tweeking the the equation on the back of stripping all rights and privacies from users? That's not what this is?
I'll just wait right here for you to publish a revised version of your comment. One that makes a little more sense; a little "tweeking" should do it.
Who cares? haha
Well, apparently it's you.
Lol whut? You're not making any sense haha.
Facebook and their Instagram shite of screwing reach is pushing people to better alternatives and it's a welcome site. I just wish it had a desktop version cause I hate having to use my phone all the time.
https://twitter.com/pasql/status/968182087198142471
...
i don't even see it in the app store
I've signed up but I'm not diving in too deep just yet...I like what it's going for, we'll see, I'm in and made the "free" cut so I'll see if it takes off. I did send a support request this morning and had a response within 30 minutes which was impressive (you can't even get a response from someone at FB).
I got on it shortly before it blew up, and have been posting once or twice a day when I can get on. My hopes are that I can actually grow on there - especially if it lasts - as I struggle to get any traction with Instagram. Guess we can only wait and see...
A viable alternative to Instagram is very desirable, I'm IN!
Maybe if all the photographers jump on the bandwagon we will create a phototographer-centric community that doesn't suck!
The need to be "social" while online is a sign of a sick society. Electronic interactions with total strangers results in opportunities for exploitation, abuse, marketing, invasion of privacy and as we have all seen, government and corporate abuse. We used to talk to each other - in person. Now, we "chat" while in the same room - across screens. It's utterly ridiculous, but a strong signal that our society is sick. While I like the idea of no ads, I pretty much despise social media in all forms for this reason and there are many more reasons to reconsider whether you should stick with social media, or just walk away. The real world is not online. Americans in particular are infatuated with screens. The life you are NOT living because you are spending your waking hours checking a screen is a life you will NEVER get back (time lost, life energy wasted). I've been online since the very early days (nearly 40 years, for real) and I will never replace what I've now lost with the thousands of hours spent staring at screens. As a research tool, the Internet has enormous capability and power, but as a social "network" platform, it will always be seriously lacking in real life. And it has many security flaws, privacy issues, loopholes and exploits that can make whatever you choose to share very dangerous sometime in your life. I hope Vero kills Facebook, but don't let your online digital life become your REAL life.
agree but when I had a business before internet we had yellow page folks visiting us all the time the local papers visiting us magazines visiting us and so so so many more for advertising
many of us are looking at this from a advertising point :)
but again agree with you :) the thing would be is how many are using it for business and not attached so much or using it for some kinda justification and pat on the back giving a false sense of I am doing OK :)
I quit doing weddings about 2+ years ago was down to about 20+ a year and over 15 years of doing them the last few years became so so so so so so so sad watching folks on their phones even during the ceremony !!!!! WHAT I can not imagine doing that and in past the dance floor would be full folks mingling laughing now its a bunch of screen lit faces once in a while showing the others their phones like some kinda who knows what its really really sad
We're forgetting how to interact - in real life.
yeah sadly so true and other idiocy things happening :) strange times :)
I signed up and am using it a bit. Im sorta sick of instagram and am hoping if I get in on this early I might have a chance of actually being noticed. I only started really using instagram seriously just over a year ago.
I downloaded the app and started to set it but it wanted my phone number. I get enough junk calls to my phone now, I was not about to add my phone number to this system. Maybe when they stop asking for the phone number I will give it a try.
I jumped on just before the hype. Performance is hit and miss but I've found down-scaling your images really helps. Some images weren't being seen because they couldn't load.
So you jumped on on like... Friday? :)
Yep. Haha. It does seem to be getting a little bit more fluid to use but still has a tonne of bugs. It will be interesting to see what happens once they start charging. I have a feeling they've already reached a million users (500,000 downloads on Android alone). But there's no way they can charge in it's current state. I'm personally quite keen to see a Instagram competitor and well Facebook... I was lost on that years ago
I think there is maybe a 1% chance it'll gain any traction at all. People are downloading it because other people are, but nobody knows if the service is any good yet. I think until someone creates something that is not just a rebranding of an existing app, people will stick with Instagram.
Also, let's be honest. People say they want to jump off IG because they don't like that they don't have more followers, and think a new platform will fix that. The same people who think buying new gear will make them better photographers.
Took me a good day and a half to get my first post up on Vero but hey, now I'm there :D
Decided like many others to take a look at this, so far I feel the UI at least is better than all the other social apps with a bias towards media display and sharing.
Will be interesting to see how this turns out, as always there are newcomers on a regular basis.
Early days. They need to work on their infrastructure scaling. A web based gui with all the app functionality would be very useful. An API would be a godsend for people using this commercially. The background color is awful. Allow current, black and white backgrounds or skins (but no myspace ugliness!). Charge $49/year and leave my data and feed alone. Interested to see where this goes as facebook is dead due to reach and instagram is currently going in that direction so anything that does not want to force that on me is worth a look and teething problems are to be expected.
Downloaded, working bit inconsistent right now, but got big hopes about it :)
"Backlash against Vero is connected to Hariri's time as an executive of defunct construction company Saudi Oger. The company shut down due to mismanagement, with at least $3.5 billion in debt and thousands of unpaid workers, Bloomberg reported last year."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/02/28/delete-vero-m...
"[Hariri's] company was so negligent that in some cases the Saudi Arabian government had to step in and provide food and basic living supplies to workers spurned by the company."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/as-vero-blows-up-backlash-builds-against-s...
I have two main problems with Vero. Firstly, the business model. I don't believe any 'Billionaire' would overlook the opportunity to introduce advertising at some point. Secondly, the vast majority of people I have seen signing up all want to be 'early adopters' and want to 'get noticed'. This is fine and I understand that IG/FB etc. are overcrowded but why are people taking this route to success? Where is the harm in working hard in your local area and making sure your work is good enough to 'get noticed'. Everybody wants to be Insta-famous but very few ever actually do, maybe even a handful in every million. Surely you are better off building a stable client base before worrying about how many 'followers' you have?
I know you need to be present on Social media and I fully embrace that. However, I do think too many people see it as a shortcut to success and the truth is, not many people will ever make it that way. Work hard and produce good work, consistently and patiently.
I put together some thoughts on why I think Vero is a good platform for creative people, especially if you create in multiple media. Check it out if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0dZId1cRc
"Hariri believed that social media should let you be yourself. To do this, he has designed Vero to break up your followers into four categories: follower, acquaintance, friend, and close friend. When you share something, you can select which level of friend you want to be able to see the post, which in theory will allow you to be yourself to a greater degree."
NO!! Absolutely wrong! This lets people pretend who they are by cherry picking who they share too. If you want to be yourself you share your whole self.
This targets IG not Twitter or Facebook. Both are completely different platforms.
This reminds me of Google+.