This morning, I read online about a new social network called, “Pheed” that recently surpassed Facebook and Twitter as the Number 1 downloaded ios app in the ‘Social Networking’ category of the App Store. Purportedly, this happened primarily because a handful of heavily-followed teenagers on Twitter endorsed the platform and it went viral. That is not to say that Pheed’s popularity is solely because of this youth endorsement. It is popular because it is good.
Not your Mom’s Social Network
The first time you visit pheed.com, you are slapped in the eyeballs with a background image of a pair of heavily-tattooed, interlocked hands and the headline, “A new way to express yourself | text, photo, video, audio, voice, broadcast.” Across the bottom of the desktop login page are links to articles by other credible sources such as: Forbes, Fast Company, LinkedIn, and Huffington Post.
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Seeing that Pheed had garnered recognition from these highly credible sources, and has attracted some celebrity participation by stars like Miley Cyrus and Mike Tyson, I was instantly intrigued and wanted to know more. Luckily, I was able to dive right in and get going with Pheed using the option to sign with either my Twitter or my Facebook login.
After signing up with my Twitter account, the Pheed setup process was quick and non-intrusive. My avatar and background image were imported automatically and after subscribing to a handful of suggested users, I was able to start exploring Pheed without having surrendered much-to-any personal information. So what is it all about, anyhow?
Pheed is a new social platform where users can share all sorts of digital media in one place, and comment, share, endorse or trash anything that they like or hate.
With Pheed, you can share:
- Text
- Audio
- Voice Notes
- Photos
- Videos
- and even Live Broadcasts!
Love it or Hate it, it’s up to you!
On Pheed, you don’t simply ‘like’ posts. You either ‘love’ them or you ‘don’t love’ them. One of the most common requests from disgruntled Facebook users over the years has been the ability to dislike a post. For whatever reason, these requests have been ignored by Facebook. It is nice to see that Pheed has filled the need in us all to denounce content that offends us. I actually ‘love’ this feature.
So Why Do I Need Another Social Network in My Life?
This is a very good question. Even the kings of internet traffic, Google, have attempted to rival the social giants for attention in the past few years with Google+ (and failed), so what should make any of us believe that Pheed could hope to do the same? The answer is simple. Pheed is not trying to compete with the big players in Social Media. Pheed is uniting them by integrating them all into their very sleek, clean and easy-to-use interface.
On any given post, be it an audio clip, photo, video or document, users have the ability to share content on all their favourite social platforms with a simple click (after associating each account with their Pheed account, of course). Currently, Pheed allows users to associate Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts, but it is easy to see that the possibilities are endless if this platform continues to grow at its current rate.
Look at What You Want, When You Want
The feed notification bar is what makes using this platform so nice. Your pheed can be filtered in different ways to show you the type of content that you want, when you want it. On both the desktop version of the site and the ios app, with one click, you can tell Pheed to show you all content types in one ‘pheed,’ or create a ‘pheed’ based on content type (all audio, all video, etc).
‘Pheed’ The Masses. Sell Yourself!
Pheed also gives users the option to copyright and charge money for their posts. This is a unique idea, but not one that I’m sure will work for most conventional users. That said, giving artists and people of influence the ability to charge a subscription to their channel (pheed) or to earn on a pay-per-view basis on creative content and live broadcasts may prove very lucrative for those with many followers. These subscriptions and pay-per-views can be priced anywhere between $1.99 and $34.99. Check out the Pheed Help Center to learn more about how to make money on Pheed.
Will Pheed Rule The World?
At first glance, Pheed seems to be the next logical step in social networking, and its user interface is just as good, if not better, than the other guys’. As my Facebook Activity Stream slowly (but surely) gets increasingly crowded with posts from my mom and her friends about how much they love their sons and daughters and my Twitter feed continues to overwhelm me with useless chatter that I’m not interested in, I long for more out of social networking. On the surface, Pheed seems to fill this void and I’d really like to see what comes next from this fledgling heavyweight platform.
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I only just discovered Pheed last night on my iOS device and really like the idea of premium accounts where people have to pay to subscribe. I create and distribute content and PLR products and have created a premium account (which is now awaiting approval) to distribute that content as well as a free account to interact with the Pheed community.
I know that Pheed has been around for a little while, and it is my understanding that the intention behind the premium subscriptions was for celebrities to share music etc. but I can really see it taking off with internet marketers and content providers and I hope it does!
Although Pheed has similar elements to other social networks, it does have a few unique features like the live streaming and premium subscriptions. I would really like too see Pheed take off as I feel like this is exactly the kind of social network that I have been looking for.
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This site may one day take over. I think social media site will come and go every ten years or so. People are always looking for the next new thing in all respects of life whether its music, art, food, or even social media sites.
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There seems to be some new hot social media site pop up every few months. Most seem to fail, but it seems like this site has a chance.
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I’m so glad that I found this article. This is actually my first time hearing about Pheed. It sounds like a lot of fun and it reminds me of Tumblr. I think I will look into this. It’s a pretty innovative concept and I’m willing to try something new. Who knows, it may become big someday! We just have to give it time and see. I’ve been bored with social networking these days, so this sounds like a breath of fresh air.
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In the article it was stated that Google failed with G+; http://goo.gl/nluA0.
Other than that statement, i feel Pheed isn’t going to be very popular, and am very surprised that it got the rank of top downloaded social networking app.
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@thatguywhy, Ya I was pretty shocked to see Pheed take the top shot. Nonetheless, it’s target audience is teens and it’s “badass” cover photo and the ability to “dislike” things might have gave it traction to reach the #1 spot. I’m sure all the hype wont last very long!
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@Vanessa, I sure am excited to see Pheed evolve and improve. I hope they get rid of the pay-per-view and subscription charges because Pheed will be seen as too profit-oriented.
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@Angeldrb, Ya, it’s bit of an aggressive start. At least, they could have started off free to build more interest before requesting money right off the bat.
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I am actually having some good results with Pheed from the younger crowd. Looking forward to seeing where it will go.
Best,
Stacie Walker
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As soon as I read this post, I checked out Pheed and made my account. I like the idea of sharing digital content, as FB and Twitter lack this. However, I can’t really compare this to FB and Twitter because it’s on a whole new level. I’m going to watch where Pheed would go in the next few months. 🙂
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@angeldrb, You’re right, it isn’t really comparable to Facebook or Twitter; however, Pheed has a lot of room for growth. It will be interesting to see it’s platform evolve.
on
Firstly, I am not that big of a fan of social networking, unless it serves the purpose of sending traffic to my website/blog, so to learn that there is now ANOTHER one, on top of the exhausted Myspace, harrowing Facebook, and drama-fueled Twitter, is a little irritating. But I will capitalize on this in terms of sending traffic to my site, so thank you for letting me know about Pheed! 😀
I do have to say though, I’m not fond of Pheed’s logo. It seems dark and ritualistic, especially with the demon eyes on the tattoed man’s left arm.
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I never heard of Pheed until reading this article. Maybe I should check the app store more often. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea but I think their are too many other things on the market like it. I’m sure that Miley Cyrus probably brought a couple thousand of her fans over to Pheed also. The whole paying for a subscription doesn’t look like it will work out to well.
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I’m predicting it’ll die out quickly just like other networks such as Pownce did. It just doesn’t have that “X Factor” that other social networks seem to have.