Facebook Buys TBH, a Teen-Targeted Anonymous Poll App
October 16 2017 - 8:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman and Katherine Bindley
Facebook Inc., which is trying to make inroads with younger
users, said Monday that it bought TBH, an anonymous polling app
that has become an overnight sensation among teens.
Launched less than three months ago, TBH has rapidly gained
traction among U.S. teens, a group that analysts say is abandoning
Facebook's core social network for services like Snap Inc.'s
Snapchat and Facebook-owned Instagram.
A Facebook spokeswoman said TBH, which stands for "To Be
Honest," will continue as a standalone app under Facebook. The
app's creators will become Facebook employees and continue to
oversee the app's expansion. The spokeswoman declined to disclose
the price.
The TBH deal is another example of Facebook's willingness to
acquire or mimic rival services that pose a threat to its
dominance. The social-media company keeps a close eye on potential
threats through an internal "early bird" warning system, The Wall
Street Journal previously reported.
The app, created by the app development company Midnight Labs,
launched on Aug. 3 in the state of Georgia. It quickly rose to the
top of the iOS App Store, even though it still hasn't rolled out to
all 50 U.S. states.
More than five million people have downloaded TBH and sent more
than a billion messages, the app's developers said Monday in a blog
post announcing the Facebook deal.
TBH describes itself as "an app for giving anonymous feedback to
friends." Unlike other anonymous apps, TBH says the feedback
offered to users is strictly positive.
The app asks users for access to their contacts. TBH also
requests details such as users' full names, gender, whether they
are in high school or college and their grade or year in school. If
a user's friends are using TBH, the polling process can begin --
with the promise that responses are anonymous.
The app goes on to pose a series of prompts, paired with emoji,
and the user gets to choose which friend best fits the prompt.
Examples include, "Always has their phone ready to catch that
important snap," "Always wanted to be friends with them," "Wouldn't
mind snuggling up with them during a movie" and simply "Your
favorite," with a hands-raised emoji.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 16, 2017 20:14 ET (00:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Snap (NYSE:SNAP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Snap (NYSE:SNAP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024