Why I Won't Be On Vero

Yesterday well watching Instagram Stories I noticed a ton of people sharing a screenshot of their profile page saying to follow them on Vero and to swipe up. I was like "what is this Vero thing?". After looking into a bit more Vero is the newest and hottest social media app. Vero is promoting "True Social" a more authentic experience. The reason people were signing up so fast is that Vero offered their app free for life to the first million people to download the app and sign up. It is free to sign up, but there is a possibility they will charge a fee in the future like most social media apps will probably be doing eventually. Vero said that people will be charged a "small annual fee" for signing up. Having a fee be involved means the app will be free of advertisements and will focus on delivering the best social experience to the user since they are Vero's customer. They will have posts in chronological order which is what Instagram used to do. That means that people will see everything posted in the exact same order they were posted in. The other thing is you can post photos and only let certain people see it, so you could make a group for only your family to see and then share a photo that everyone who is following you can see. The categories for these are close friends, friend, acquaintance, and followers. The last feature that makes this app a little different is they will have categories like movies, tv, music, books, places, and photos to connect and share too.

The reason I won't be on Vero is that I am not going to be apart of another social media that is the same as Instagram. For my blog, Instagram is so important for promoting my content and connecting with readers. It takes a lot of time and patience. When Instagram changed and they started posting things out of order, it was very frustrating and still is. No one is seeing my posts and engaging like they used to. This is a whole other topic to talk about, but you get the idea. So yes, I am frustrated with Instagram but I need it for my blog. To be honest, if I didn't have a blog, I wouldn't be on social media at all. The other thing is without Net Neutrality rules internet providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon can control what you see and will probably make you pay an extra fee to use apps. If this becomes the case and there is no free control over the apps I love and use or if I have to pay a fee, that is the end of social media for me.

So who really knows, maybe this is the end of Instagram and everyone will use Vero from now on. But only time will tell. After spending so much time and energy on Instagram over the last 5 years, I cannot imagine doing the same on another website to try and build a following from the bottom up again. I know Instagram wasn't going to last forever and there would be other social media apps in the future, but the only way I am jumping on board with a new app is if it is completely different and new. Vero is basically Instagram. What would be really smart of Instagram to do right now is give the people what they want, aka, posting content in chronological order in real time again.

What are your thoughts on Vero? Will you be downloading it or sticking with Instagram?

UPDATE: So after checking the Vero website, they said: "due to extraordinary demand, Vero extends "free for life" offer" They are offering the app free to everyone signing up. They have yet to confirm a start date and pricing of Vero subscription yet.