Why Everyone Is Talking About Vero, The Newest Social Media App in Town

Ever heard about Vero? If you’re a frequent social media user, you probably have. Your friends may have discussed about the latest app in town – which is being described by some as the “new Instagram”.

So what sets Vero apart from its established competitors? We gave the app a closer look so you can decide whether it’s worth checking out or not.

Vero’s beginnings

To start off, Vero was first launched in 2015 by “Lebanese billionaire Ayman Hariri, movie financier Motaz Nabulsi and venture capitalist Scott Birnbaum,” according to NME.

Vero, a word which literally translates to “truth” in Esperanto, is aiming to target “people who want a safe, genuine reflection of their real-life relationships in an online setting”.

Social networking with a more authentic approach.

Essentially, Vero has a feed that looks like Facebook (posts, comments, likes) but it also places great emphasis on photos, videos, and Instagram’s ‘influencer’ aspect.

In a statement, the company tells us:

“In real life, people are never presented with a one size fits all audience. We share different things with different people.

“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.”

User-focused instead of ad-based.

The Vero website further tells us:

“Unlike most of our competitors, Vero’s business model isn’t based on serving advertisements. As a subscription-based service, our users are our customers, not the product we sell to advertisers.

“Our subscription model will allow us to keep Vero advertising-free, and to focus solely on delivering the best social experience instead of trying to find new ways to monetize our users’ behavior or tricking them back into the app with notifications.”

So yes, the app is very much ideal for those who hate seeing those paid-for ads on their feeds.

“We don’t curate it, manipulate it, insert advertising in it, or hold back posts,” Vero points out. “You see what has been shared with you, when it’s been shared with you. You won’t have to pay to ‘boost your post’, or ‘reach your audience’.”

It’s free to use – for now.

Apparently, the first 1 million users get “free for life” subscription but the company will charge others afterwards. This is important in order to maintain their goal of putting “customers, not advertisers” in charge.

“Our subscription model will allow us to keep Vero advertising-free, and to focus solely on delivering the best social experience instead of trying to find new ways to monetize our users’ behavior or tricking them back into the app with notifications.”

Watch the video here and see how it works:

Will Vero be the next big thing?

As of now, we can’t really tell. Opinions are varied among users with some praising it and others saying it doesn’t really live up to all the hype.

For those interested to find out for themselves, Vero can be downloaded by iPhone users via the App Store and Google Play for Android users.