(ETX Daily Up) – This is the hot new platform right now. Like other social networks, Mastodon for example, Hive Social is in turn taking advantage of the slump in which Twitter has found itself since its takeover by Elon Musk to swell its ranks. Can Hive Social become a serious alternative to Twitter?
After the bird Twitter, the bees of Hive Social are making the buzz. The still little-known platform announced that it had reached one million users on November 21. Since then, the site would have two million subscribers, and its ranks continue to grow day by day. According to a Newsweek article dated November 22, Internet users were unable to create their account on Hive Social because its email verification quota was set at 100,000 users per day. The network reported for its part having attracted 250,000 more followers that day.
The application born in 2019 is now in twentieth place in the ranking of the most downloaded applications in the category social networks on the Play Store in France. Hive Social has even established itself in the United States, as the top trend for free applications on the App Store.
A great success that must nevertheless be put into perspective in the face of the war machine that Twitter has become since its launch in 2006. The blue bird network has 237.8 million active users per month.
How it works ?
A mixture of Instagram and Twitter, the Hive Social platform allows you to post messages, share photos and videos, which are displayed on your profile in the form of a grid of publications like on the social network of Meta. The big difference highlighted by the platform? The chronological thread, thus making it possible to look at the contents in the order of their publication. A system long requested by Instagram users. This is what motivated the founder, Kassandra Pop, to learn to code on her own to launch her own platform. Frustrated to undergo the algorithm of the platforms without being able to benefit from it as micro-influencer, the 23-year-old wanted to create her own platform without being drowned in advertisements.
In addition to the possibility of posting GIFs and polls, the social network allows you to choose music and the color of the interface of your profile, only on the iOS application for the moment. On the inclusion side, Hive Social also offers to display their pronouns and astrological sign. Little extras that Gen Z loves.
Note that listening to music on profiles is counted on Apple Music, and soon Spotify, to financially benefit artists. Users can choose one song for free and pay 99 cents to add two more songs.
Like on Twitter, Hive users can pay a subscription to a creator to get access to exclusive content. Users can also receive freebies that they can turn into cash once a minimum amount is reached, which has not been disclosed.
After creating an account, the platform offers you to choose three categories from around thirty subjects to select the content appropriate to your profile, to be discovered in the “Discover” tab.
One of the biggest differences with Instagram and Twitter concerns nudity. On Hive, this content is allowed provided that you tag its publication as “NSFW” or “Not Safe For Work”, indicating content of either a sexual or violent nature.
Moderation then appears to be one of the most important issues on the application. Kassandra – Raluca – Pop, the founder indicated in an interview with Newsweek that they are only three to manage the social network. The application does not yet offer two-factor authentication, a system that limits account hackers.
Despite the enthusiasm around this new social network on Twitter, Elon Musk does not yet seem very worried about this competition. The billionaire, however, took the trouble to react to the phenomenon by responding: “lmao” (“laughing my ass off”, or “laughing out loud”) to the tweet: “What is Hive again? We weren’t all hot for Mastodon two seconds ago?”
For Kassandra Pop, Twitter shouldn’t be the only network worried about Hive’s success. “I don’t think it’s a direct competitor to any specific social media outlet,” Pop said. “I know we’ve been branded as an alternative to Instagram or Twitter, but I would see it more as a general competitor in the social media space. We’re really establishing our brand and making it our own” , she replied in an interview with Newsweek.