What is Vero and Why Do I Keep Seeing It?

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.