By Tava Hoag

*Written for H Collective

If you’ve been on Instagram lately you may have seen rants in peoples’ stories or posts about the new algorithm that makes it difficult for Instagram user’s content to be seen by the maximum audience. Despite numerous complaints from big to small accounts, there is no sign of Instagram changing their 2018 algorithm anytime soon. It’s estimated that now only 10% of your audience/followers on Instagram will be seeing your post. This has led to many people urging followers to turn on push notifications so that they can be told when certain people they usually engage with post a new photo. It has also led to the dreadful comment pods, follow Fridays, and rounds upon rounds of fake engagement.

This new formula is devastating to business users trying to reach a maximum audience for their products and to the thousands of users who work as influencers and whose livelihood depends on the number of people seeing their posts. This has been in the making for a while. It started when Instagram moved away from the chronological order of posts. Instead, the posts lined up on your feed would depend upon engagement and how interested you as a user would be in a typical post based on what photos you liked in the past. This was done supposedly to improve the user experience and to guarantee content that people would care about seeing.

To me, it is so sad to see an app that I joined back in 2012 become something like this. Over the last two years, I have been guilty of playing into the hype that goes along with Instagram. I mean who wouldn’t want to be “insta famous” and travel around the world taking photos and promoting the things you love? But after a while, it grew exhausting. It strained relationships I had with friends and people I photographed with because we were always competing or spending countless hours researching the best ways to get out posts seen, featured, and to blow up our following. When I stopped caring about post likes, comments, and features from different accounts I began to remember the real reason I joined Instagram all those years ago. I, like so many others, joined to be inspired. To find content that was true, moving, and made me a better creative. I missed truly connecting with people, caring about their art, and finding common ground to collaborate. I wanted my intentions to be true not some fake act I was putting on to get more tags and blow up my feed by using the successes of someone else. I wanted things to be genuine, like so many other users out there. Problem is that felt impossible on an app where the sole purpose seemed to be about people competing to be seen by a larger audience no matter what the costs. I had a friend that would spend 45 minutes to an hour each day they posted something to Instagram commenting on other people’s photos to build engagement. The comments put out there were forced, and all for what? A few more followers who don’t really care about your posts anyway? We have all become blind to the real purpose of social media forums such as Instagram with this rushed frenzy to get to the top, make money quick, have an easy lifestyle. We forget what really matters, human connection, interactions, and collaborations that help everyone involved achieve something they set their goals on.

So lately many big accounts and even hub users like Ashley Brehm, Charlotte, and Jessica (rusticbones) have been encouraging others to go and try this app as a way to regain authentic human interaction in a world where everything seems to be running towards the fake/staged lifestyle. Users paint Vero as the place to go to inspire yourself, to inspire others, and to share real moments with an audience guaranteed to see them.

Here’s what Vero is.

Vero is dubbing itself the “True Social” or “Smarter Social” They claim to be a social network for anyone who loves something enough to share it and wants control over who they share it with, like real life. It’s moving away from the anonymity that Instagram has allowed to take over, and is fostering real, genuine content that means something special to its users.

On Vero, you can follow people similar to Instagram and you can also connect with people. When you build a connection you list that person as a close friend, friend, or acquaintance. The people you connect with will not know which category they are in but they will be able to appreciate each post you share with them. You can follow more than just people, but also brands, bands, artists, etc, and you don’t have to be an expert on everything that Vero offers. You can filter the kinds of posts you wish you see from each friend such as photos, videos, links, movies, books, music, and places. With all of these options, things might seem a bit overwhelming but it’s very simple. There isn’t this competitive drive it’s all about what you love, very relaxed, and true, no pressure to be anything or post anything. Just know that when you do decide to post the people you connect with and who follow you will be able to see it no matter what.

Now Vero has actually been around since 2015, but only recently has it seen an incredible growth in its user base. Vero focuses on the truth, literally, Vero means truth in Esperanto. The goal as I have said is to give users an authentic experience on their site as opposed to Facebook and Instagram. The best part, Vero appears to be giving users something that they have wanted for a very long time and have been asking Facebook and Instagram to deliver to no avail. By granting so many peoples’ wish to be seen on social media Vero has placed itself on the map.

Some things to know:

Vero is actually subscription based and will eventually charge users and annual fee to use the service, unless you happen to be one of the first million users to sign up for an account in which case you will receive Vero free for life. The point of the small subscription fee is to keep Vero advertising free so that they can stick to their notion of a true experience.
With all of the people heading over to Vero the app has actually had a difficult time in accommodating the influx. So do not be discouraged or alarmed if the site times you out, or claims that certain features are not working at the moment. The Vero team is currently working to restore things and values everyone’s patience so try not to let the glitches turn you off from staying on the app. It’s a problem for sure, but it also means you are in a place that many other people feel inspired enough to go to and find real content among other creatives who want the same things.

Vero is a social network that allows you to be yourself. No one knows if the app will really take off, but for now many people are flocking there to build accounts and test it out. As creatives we have to always be evolving and seeking new opportunities. What if those opportunities come from Vero. Couple with The Hub I believe Vero has the power for us all to build stronger connections with one another and have our voices be heard on platforms that are willing to help us be better individuals. Might as well give it a try. You can always delete it if you are unsatisfied down the road.