Lest We Forget: Social Media Apps That Are No Longer With Us
For every Instagram, there are dozens and dozens of similar photo-sharing apps that don’t quite make the cut. This is the story of social media, because when one app prospers, many others try to emulate its success but ultimately end up in obscurity. Some social media platforms try to take a chance and do something different, but sometimes, users just aren’t ready for that change. It can happen that you just can’t win no matter what you do, which unfortunately means the end for some apps.
Below are some social media apps which tried but failed to win the hearts and minds of users across the world.
Vine
For a while, Vine was King of the World. The simple premise of uploading 6-second videos was pretty ingenious and forced users to become quite creative in how they used the medium of film. There were many hilarious videos that came out of Vine and the app was one of the most talked-about for a few years. Beginning in 2013 and snapped up by Twitter not long after, Vine’s success grew… but eventually faltered and came to a standstill in 2016. With Instagram and Snapchat creating their own Stories features for videos, opening up and uploading videos on Vine just became pointless and it became clear that it couldn’t compete anymore.
Google+
The problem with Google+ was: who is this for exactly? Young people? Working professionals? Due to the fact that LinkedIn works for businesses and jobseekers so flawlessly, the idea that you’d need yet another social media account on Google+ just seemed senseless. Sure, it had a good run, going all the way from 2011 to 2019, but as Google already pretty much runs the world, it seemed social media users wanted to move away from using the company for absolutely everything. Search engine, maps, translation, calendars, app store… that’s fine, but social media is best left to others.
Peach
This one’s a bit tricky because while Peach is still officially available on Google Play and iOS App Store, it’s just not being used anymore. Peach got off to a big start in 2016 but quickly fizzled after a year. Why? Well, it didn’t really do anything different from the big social media players. It’s a bit of fun to try out a trending app and play around with a new interface, but if there isn’t any lasting appeal, then you can say goodnight. If anything, Peach was a fad, like fidget spinners, but some people still think it taught us a lot about social media.
Oh, and it might come as a shock, but somehow, MySpace is still alive. You could say that this was the original social media platform that got it all started, but when a cooler, more streamlined version came along in the form of Facebook, 99.99% of MySpace users jumped ship. MySpace still exists more as a way to promote music nowadays, and while it does a decent job of it, it will never be used as a messaging app anymore.
Want some social media tips for some of the popular platforms still working right now? Then check here for some useful advice.