Pinterest is an image search platform, which functions somewhat like an online mood board. Users pin images they like to boards. Images are uploaded by users, and can then be re-pinned by others. Pinterest was launched by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp in 2010. Silbermann had previously worked in the advertising department at Google. Prior to Pinterest, Silbermann and Sciarra launched an app called Tote, which failed to gain traction. Launched on March 2010 to family and friends,...| Business of Apps
Sensor Tower is the leading, trusted source of enterprise-grade market intelligence and performance metrics in the mobile app ecosystem. Sensor Tower’s innovative mobile performance, trend insights, and ad network products offer enterprise-level data on the global mobile app economy. From mobile-first startups to blue-chip companies and financial institutions, Sensor Tower provides quality insights and leading customer support at every step of the mobile journey. Website screenshot Source: ...| Business of Apps
Facebook probably needs no introduction; nonetheless, here is a quick history of the company. The world’s biggest and most-famous social network was launched by Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard University, in early 2004. TheFacebook, as it was then known, was originally intended to serve a digitised version of the ‘face books’ held by Harvard’s various colleges, which were paper directories containing images and personal information about students. Initially limited t...| Business of Apps
BeReal is the newest social app to make its mark, coming at a time when many were disillusioned with Instagram and its focus on algorithmic content. In 2022, it broke out in the US and UK with millions switching to the app, but has struggled to retain those users long term. Built by ex-GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau and launched in late 2019, the basic premise of the app is to take a photo with the back and front camera at a random time each day. The impromptu nature of the...| Business of Apps
Snapchat is an image and video messaging app, developed by Stanford University students Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in 2011. Its unique selling point was that photos and videos sent to friends would only be viewable for a set duration of 1 to 10 seconds, although Snapchat has removed these limitations. A number of additional features have also been added, the first of which was Stories. This allowed users to post photos and videos to a feed for 24 hours. The feature was notor...| Business of Apps
WeChat was launched in 2011 as Weixin, Mandarin for ‘micro-message’. As the name suggests, it originally functioned as a simple messenger app, a Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp in essence. WeChat was developed by and belongs to Chinese tech behemoth Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in the world. Other names in the Tencent stable include QQ Messenger and Tencent Music. Though it started as a simple messenger platform, WeChat has become far more than that. Through its mini program...| Business of Apps
In a second attempt to be one of the first inductees of the startup incubator Y Combinator, University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian built Reddit, which they labelled “the front page of the internet”. The site functionality remains much the same as it was back in 2005. Users write posts, upload photos, videos and link to other parts of the internet. To organise the content, Redditors upload to specific subreddits. If the post receives a lot of attention, it may be...| Business of Apps
TikTok, known as Douyin in its home market, was launched in China in September 2016. It quickly started to gain traction in China and parent company ByteDance launched an international version the following year. Originally launched as a short-form video sharing platform, primarily for lipsyncing and dancing videos, TikTok has grown into a fully-fledged video service, with content available for all types of viewers. ByteDance had prior experience on running wildly popular apps, as the operato...| Business of Apps
