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Have You Heard About the Popular New App That Is Downloaded More Than Facebook, Twitter?

Feb. 26, 2013 11:30pm Liz Klimas

Social Media App Pheed Tops Apple App Store Chart Above Facebook and Twitter

(Images: Pheed)

A new app called Pheed has taken iPhone by storm, replacing Facebook and Twitter as the No.1 most downloaded free social networking app.

“I think it’s a little bit surreal,” Chrysta Olson, director of communications of the start-up, told TheBlaze in a phone interview.

(Image: Apple App Store screenshot)

Pheed — currently available for iPhone but an Android version is coming soon — is a new social media platform that officially launched in November 2012. According to its website, it “enables users to create, inspire and share texts, photos, videos, audio tracks, voice-notes and live broadcasts.”

In short, Pheed creators pulled together what they liked from the many social platforms out there — Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Instagram, etc. — and put it into one place.

“I think people are getting overwhelmed with how many sharing options there are for content online,” Olson said about why she thinks Pheed is being so well received. She noted that people only want so many apps on their devices and all these social media options add up.

Pheed is also one of the first of content sharing platforms to allow users to copyright their work. Olson said they have a button that will instantly put a watermark of the user’s name on the content.

Pheed started as a self-funded effort and it doesn’t have advertisers either, Olson said. So how does the company expect to make money? Here’s where another novel idea comes in — users can sell their content through the app if they wish. It is from here that Pheed would take a portion to generate revenue.

Although Pheed is entirely free to join and much of its content is free as well, Olson explained that users can opt to sell their content either by putting all of it behind a paywall or use a pay-per-view system. They get to name their own price too.

An example Olson offered was a gentleman who give gadget-making tutorials. Interested viewers have to pay $39.99 to get access to all of them. A pay-per-view example would be if Mike Tyson, who Olson said recently joined Pheed, would have users pay $1.99 to see a fight through the app.

“We want to be the toolbox,” Olson said. “We have no idea how creative people will get.”

But just what is making it so popular now? As Ilya Pozin wrote in a post on LinkedIn, it might have only taken a few tweets by popular teens on Twitter to get the app to its current top tier status:

Apparently, a few popular teens with large Twitter and Instagram followings discovered the app, tweeting about it late Monday night and yesterday morning, and spawning teens from all over the US to open Pheed channels. Among these, the instigator was a girl by the name of Acacia Brinley, who tweeted ‘@Pheed sickest app’ sending thousands of teens to open Pheed channels within minutes.

When I asked Pheed’s CEO and Co-Founder OD Kobo for a comment, he chuckled, just shaking his head in bewilderment: “I feel like the only metaphor that describes accurately how I feel is the little engine that could, as it’s against all odds… we’re this self funded startup with no VC funding… while our competitors raise tens of millions, we’re just this small team of people, and Pheed is being accepted by the community. All I can say is we are happy that people are being so accepting. It means a great deal!”

In a Twitter conversation with a supporter — yes, Pheed seems very active on Twitter, engaging in many individual discussions — Pheed said its success at the current moment is due to the featured product itself, its community and timing.

Olson told TheBlaze the uptick is surprising also because the app stopped accepting new users for a month at the end of December so they could test and conduct quality control measures to make sure it was going in the direction the creators wanted. That one month doesn’t seem to have dinged it much in the app popularity contest, since it has been No.1 on Apple’s chart for the past nine days, according to Olson.

Listening to customer feedback and improving the product is, in part, what Olson thinks is making the app so popular now.

Pheed, like Facebook, is not intended for users under 13 years of age. TheBlaze has reported on the seedier underside of social platforms like Vine and Instagram, but Pheed does not allow “nudity.” That said, the app has safety filters:

“None” – The content that will appear on your timeline, search and browse will have no restrictions allowing you to view ratings of G, PG, PG-13 and R.

“Moderate” – The content that will appear on your timeline, search and browse will be limited to ratings of G, PG and PG-13 only.

“Strict” – The content that will appear on your timeline, search and browse will be limited to ratings of G and PG only.

The YouTube channel The Daily App Show reviewed Pheed a couple months ago. Take a look and see how the app works:

This story has been updated to clarify Pheed’s policy regarding adult content.

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Comments (23)

media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 28, 2013 at 7:02am
You mean I can sell my posts instead of post them from free here? LOL.

Don’t worry Glenn, we won’t leave you hanging. Since we are talking about technology, I wonder if the same technology that allows you to create computer networks using electrical outlets, could be the same kind of technology that would allow something like Google Glass to download your brain through the optic nerve?

Don’t worry, be happy?

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erroneous
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:08pm
I’m so done with old people. They won’t adapt to the times and so they just get cranky and bitter. Just because things have changed and you haven’t doesn’t mean they have changed for the worst. Try and open you mind a bit.

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- TEIN
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:28pm
  @Erroneous…Isn’t funny that it was us “old people” who developed the infrastructure for these type of “social media” items to happen….and if you’d open your mind you would see that “social media” is actual a oxymoron, because no socializing is happening (back in the day Facebook would have been called a bulletin board)….the beauty of the virtual illusion…
  
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- zorro
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:54pm
  Some of these people really, really, really, really need to get a grip! You don’t realize this is a tool which can be used to spread our message as well. Sit out if you wish. Watch liberals continue to spread their lies and ignorance while we sit with our thumbs up our a$$es. The weight of the world is not on your shoulders, fellas. Geez….
  
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hi
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 11:52am
It’s awesome. It’s not a dumbing down but if you don’t keep up with it, you won’t be able to do stuff in the future. It will pass you by just like old folks who refuse to use a computer.

Take for ex the 3d printer where you have to design and create. My 12 year old can easily manipulate and work with such programs but it’s difficult for me to grasp.

Also, Docs use robots for surgery now. Kids that grow up with this stuff can easily manipulate the surgical robotic arms which use suture ligature that the naked can’t even see

My son is really creative with the ap. I am mesmerized when I watch him. He has a great following too bc he is funny. My older kids are not as good with computers because it wasn’t with them until they got older.

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- hi
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:05pm
  haha! “the naked can’t see”
  If you have clothe on, you can see it. Just kidding.
  
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- BenInNY
  Posted on February 28, 2013 at 12:23pm
  I couldn’t even see your post til I put my pants on.
  
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OneTermPresident
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:56am
The great dumbing down continues… how long before they feel sheepish just because they’re eye’s made contact with someone else’s?

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truthnstuff
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:52am
Another tool for the fool. The narcissistic society being created will crumble under the weight of the stupid and the ignorant.

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txswalker
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:28am
Just what we need…more stupid stuff. Seems we are creating a population of narcisist.

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TROONORTH
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 7:58am
What’s an ‘app’? ( 100 million teenage girls just rolled their eyes)

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Gonzo
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 7:49am
“Apparently, a few popular teens with large Twitter and Instagram followings discovered the app, tweeting about it late Monday night and yesterday morning”
Another generation of lemmings, oh boy.

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- Fubared
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 2:44pm
  I just pheed down my leg.
  http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/27/technology/social/pimps-social-networks/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
  
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BehindBlueEyes
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:41am
I hope this doesn’t become another gargantuan database of useless information like facebook. I found that site to be virtually painful.

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nomemymine
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:41am
Ah well, another campaign tool for the Left. Now they may reach their millions of Obama phone holders with colorful photos and videos instantly.

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Baddoggy
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 4:53am
The porn industry will love this. They can sell their smut in small chunks. Coming to a bathroom stall near you soon….

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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 2:15am
It’s more like twitter, so I don’t hink it will put FaceBook out of business, but I will applaud any new-comers who DO put FaceBook AND Google out of business. I hope they will be conservative.

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ANGIE11
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:56am
Good luck Pheed. Put that arrogant thief, Zuckerberg, out of business.

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- BrutalTruth
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 8:25am
  Possibly swapping one for another.
  
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pandora665
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:47am
Meh, was hoping for something interesting and unique not another SN app. Considering I’m not a teenage girl and don’t believe that that every minute of my existence is noteworthy, it’s a pass for me.

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Stoic one
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:12am
Interesting… I wonder how long it will stay private.

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- GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 12:24am
  Privacy??…what is that??….they didn’t think that was an option. The backdoor must be the size of an 8 lane highway…..
  
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go2gym
Posted on February 26, 2013 at 11:42pm
Great, more social crapworking.

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