Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 3 March 2018
Vero: Hot Instagram alternative - but will it stick around?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY cused in recent years of
AP Technology Writer failing to pay workers and
NEW YORK (AP) — Insta- stranding them with little
gram users fed up with the food and access to medi-
service becoming more cal care. Vero says Hariri
and more like Facebook hasn’t had any operation-
are flocking to a hot new al or financial involvement
app called Vero. with the business since late
Vero lets you share pho- 2013.
tos and video just like In- Hariri said he started the
stagram, plus it lets you service not to replace Ins-
talk about music, mov- tagram but to give people
ies or books you like — or “a more authentic social
hate. Though Vero has network.” Because Vero
been around since 2015, it doesn’t sell ads, he said
surged to popularity in re- it isn’t simply trying to get
cent days, thanks in part people to stay on longer.
to sudden, word-of-mouth More important, he said,
interest from the cosplay is “how you feel when you
community — comic book use (it) and how you feel
fans who like to dress up it’s useful.”
as characters. That interest ___
then spread to other online WILL VERO FIZZLE OUT?
groups. The Vero app, center, is displayed on an iPhone in New York, Thursday, March 1, 2018. Newcomers like Ello and
There’s also a growing frus- Associated Press Peach can quickly be-
tration with Instagram, with Here’s a look at Vero, how sponse “a large wave of following year. come popular as people
a flood of ads, dearth of it’s become so hot — and new users.” Instagram’s privacy set- fed up with bigger services
privacy options and a re- whether it can last: ___ tings are all-or-nothing: You itch for something new. But
cent end to the chrono- ___ HOW IT WORKS either make everything reality can set in when peo-
logical ordering of posts. SUDDEN INTEREST Vero works on Apple or An- available to everyone on ple realize that their friends
Instagram users have been From 2015 until this past droid mobile devices and is Instagram, or make ev- are not on the new services
posting screenshots of week, Vero was little known free — at least for now. The erything visible only to ap- or that these services aren’t
Vero, asking their friends to with fewer than 200,000 us- company eventually wants proved friends. Vero lets all they promised to be.
join. ers, according to CEO Ay- to charge a subscription you set the privacy level of Williamson, the eMarketer
But don’t ring Instagram’s man Hariri. Then cosplay fee. individual posts. If you don’t analyst, said it’s difficult for
death knells just yet: Hot members started posting There are no ads, and the want something available a new service to become
new apps pop up and fizzle photos of elaborate cos- service promises “no data to all users, you can choose something people use for
by the dozen, so the odds tumes and makeup. Pho- mining. Ever.” That means just close friends, friends or more than a few weeks.
are stacked against Vero. tographers, tattoo artists it won’t try to sell you stuff acquaintances. A rare exception is Snap-
Remember Ello? Peach? and others followed. As based on your interests and Another big difference: chat, which was founded
Thought so. of Thursday, Vero was ap- habits, as revealed through Vero shows friends’ posts in in 2010, the same year as
“Young people are su- proaching 3 million users, your posts. Of course, chronological order rather Instagram. Unlike Insta-
per fickle and nothing has Hariri said. Facebook started out with- than tailored to your per- gram, it has remained an
caught on in the way that Vero has gotten so popular out ads and “data mining,” ceived tastes, as deter- independent company
Snapchat or Instagram in recent days that some and it’s now one of the top mined by software. Insta- and is still a popular service
has,” said Debra Aho Wil- users have reported wide- internet advertising com- gram got rid of chronologi- among younger people.
liamson, an eMarketer an- spread outages and error panies. Facebook bought cal presentations in 2016, a But even Snapchat is hav-
alyst who specializes in so- messages. Vero says it’s Instagram in 2012 and start- change that hasn’t gone ing trouble growing more
cial media. working to keep up in re- ed showing ads there the well with many users. broadly.
___ EMarketer recently pub-
WHO IS BEHIND IT? lished a report that predict-
Facebook CEO Mark Zuck- ed 2 million people under
erberg became a billion- 25 leaving Facebook for
aire after starting the ser- other apps this year. But
vice. Vero’s founder was that means going to Snap-
already one. chat and the Facebook-
Hariri is the son of former owned Instagram, not nec-
Lebanese Prime Minister essarily emerging services
Rafic Hariri and helped run like Vero.q
the family’s now-defunct
construction company in
Saudi Arabia. He got a
computer science degree
from Georgetown and
returned to Saudi Arabia
after his father was assas-
sinated in 2005. His half-
brother, Saad, is Lebanon’s
current prime minister.
Hariri’s ties with the family
business, Saudi Oger, have
come into question. The
company has been ac-