VOICE is changing the way people look at social media apps. By design, VOICE has all of the benefits of anonymous local apps like Yik Yak, Whisper, and Secret – but without the social drawbacks that come from having anonymity as a fundamental feature.
Rather than sending a friend request or following someone just to have a conversation like conventional social media, on VOICE users are immediately connected to everyone in their area. Everywhere a user travels they are presented with a new network of users in that specific area. The user can post voices publicly, choosing if they want the whole block to see it or just the people in the room around them. The effect is countless location based micro-networks with localized content, each unique to the geography and people of that area. These micro-networks make VOICE useful for people attending conferences or events, going to festivals or seeing live performances, or just traveling and visiting new places.
Friends can be added to stay in touch at any distance, allowing each user to create and grow a personal social network as they explore and meet new users of the app. Along with the local public feed users can chat privately at any distance as well. On VOICE people also have the ability to Echo voices around them, keeping the voice relevant in the feed and expanding on its initial range. The Echo creates a powerful unison effect as it expands, delivering the original post to more users further and further away. Whether networking and meeting new people, engaging with performers or audiences, or just exploring the world through the eyes of others, VOICE connects people to the “here and now.”
Anonymous apps get the traction they do because anonymity prevents self-censorship, creating an interesting platform. However, this anonymity comes at a price, the sacrifice of content quality. Minimizing self-censorship can be done without anonymity though – ultimately app users just need feel both free and safe to speak their minds whether they have an identity or not. VOICE gives people a social media identity but it also protects it: the feed only contains 100 voices and any older voices disappear by themselves. There is no central social feed and therefore no collective history of the things everyone has posted. Users can view one another’s profiles – but post history is private for each user. The only content people can see is happening right around them in the moment. VOICE effectively sits between two worlds: all the benefit that social media can provide with none of the drama.
