Facefeed Is A Narcissistic, Bizarre App - But I'm Completely Addicted To It
The new iOS app Facefeed is easier to use than any other social app because it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles; it relies on the art of taking selfies and looking nice.
And the best part about it is that it's completely addicting.
The first thing that struck me about the app is that there aren't any risque pictures on it. Surely an app whose sole purpose is to share pics with other people would have a few unsavory photos.
Are there interns who are looking through the pictures, making sure nothing NSFW slips by? Does it use an algorithm that deletes unwanted pictures from the site? (Although some unwanted photos have definitely slipped through).
"We don't like to talk about this too much," Facefeed's creator Ben Cera told Business Insider via email. "Let's just say that users are encouraged to show their face and keep it friendly. We try our best to protect our users from aggressive visuals or language. We want everyone to have a good time."
Which falls in line with the app's description, which is: "It's like a giant party."
When you're at a party or meeting people for the first time, all you see is their face. If that person looks nice, you talk to them. If not, you move on.
"This isn't a dating app," Cera said. "This isn't OkCupid or Tinder. This is trying to replicate how you would meet someone at a party. You see faces of people (no name, no background info), and you can say 'hi' with a smile to anyone you feel looks interesting."
There's no profile to set up. Facefeed doesn't link with any of your social accounts. You just log in, take a selfie, and put it out there in the world. If someone thinks your selfie looks nice, that person can write you a message. If you want to reply, you can. If you don't, you can block that person forever.
And if you become friends with that person, you can add them to a friends list, so you can write to each other as often as you'd like.
Previously, Cera created the Context app, which allows users to send pictures messages to their friends.
"Facefeed is very much a version 2 of Context. I tried to strip down all the negatives of Context and keep only the positives, plus add a few more addicting elements to it," Cera said.
Facefeed recently asked for people interested in being "campus ambassadors" to respond, which is a way for the app to broaden its reach.
The most interesting aspect of the app - and what has some naysayers calling it a high school popularity contest - is that there's a ranking system. And you can see the top 100 Facefeeders (sorry) at the app's website.
At the time of this writing, Cera was No. 3 in the rankings. I'm No. 222.
"The score represents how socially respected you are," Cera said. "It goes up when you talk to someone, and goes up even more when you get a reply or when someone talks to you."
Cera said he thinks that the ranking system gives a lighter tone to the app and separates it from the overly serious dating apps, such as Tinder and OkCupid.
The ranking system also serves as a way to "protect" people from getting contacted by too many people. Basically, it keeps the popular people from being bombarded by messages from people who aren't as popular as they are.
And how do you get to be No. 1?
"To be number one, be nice, smile and make a LOT of new friends," Cera said.