Anonymous Social Networking
According to the founders of Spraffl, a geo-social app, the future of social networking is just that: anonymous!
With the social networking in its current form much of the of focus on follower numbers and likes. Whilst you chase the numbers its easy to forget the whole purpose of the platform which is to engage with others. The value of a network should be based on the quality of the conversation or content within it, rather than the numbers.
No Followers Required
Spraffl is trying to break the trend there are no friend networks to build, no people to follow, no checkins required and no badges or points. The network is based on those immediately around you. No permission is required to join in the conversation, and you remain anonymous.
Jay Feeney, co-founder and CEO of Spraffl explains: “Anonymity has been an incredibly important part of the way we communicate over the centuries and has proved its great worth in print and other media.”
Moderation Buit-in
The network is also self-moderating allowing users to flag messages as abusive- 3 or more reports of the same message will see it removed. If an end user sends abusive messages more than 3 times, they find themselves removed from the network too.
Spraffl Screenshots
Anxiety Free Networking
Some of this only makes sense. As an introduction to networking for those that find it difficult, this is an ideal way to practise networking in real life without the anxiety.
Other apps have attempted this hyper-local connectivity; Beepmo for example uses LinkedIn as a conduit to introduce people local to each other. The same effect can be attempted on Twitter with hashtags at events, but is less structured due to the use of differing hashtags.
Both these examples also don’t allow the same anonymity as Spraffl.
Show Me The Money
It would certainly make a refreshing change to see a social platform that breaks the mould. It’s original thinking like this that could see the rise of the next big thing in social. Even though it is only in its launch phase the startup already has ideas around monetization.
Jay Feeney commented “We’ll be monetizing the app by allowing business to engage with their local Spraffers”.
As you will be aware marketeers don’t need to know exactly who you are to effectively market to you, so anonymity shouldn’t be a hinderance.
Power To The People
Will it be the “non-personalised revolution” that the Edinburgh based, self-funded startup is hoping for?
Only the on-going conversation will tell!