New app encourages the “YOLO” lifestyle
A promotional photo for Sobrr, the app that promises to help users live life in the moment. Photo courtesy of Sobrr.com
By Mikki Stacey, Contributing Writer
Not entirely sober? You don’t have to be to use Sobrr, a new app that is rem- iniscent of Facebook, Tindr, and Snapchat. Launched on June 24, 2014 and with a mere 10,000 users, Sobrr will likely become a huge success because of its convenience for young adults.
It’s like Facebook; you can share statuses, photos, and videos that can be “cheered” or commented on. It’s like Tindr; your posts are seen by users in a specific geographic region. It’s like Snapchat; everything you post will disappear.
After one day, everything you posted will have vanished. Texts will disappear in only a few seconds— pictures and videos in only a few seconds more. Sobrr’s co-founder, Bruce Yang, wanted to create an app with a carpe diem approach: “It lets them share without worrying their actions will go down on their permanent record.” Yang feels Sobrr is a more organic approach to social media.
Through the utilization of G.P.S., Sobrr picks up your location and shares your posts and the posts of others in the area around you. See statuses, pictures, or someone you like?
Become “24-hour friends.” Want to stay in touch? Become something more with the “keep” option. Y ang says, “In real life, people socialize with others but only make friends with who they like.” He wants Sobrr to be the social media that does the same.
The idea for Sobrr was conceived after a bachelor party in Las Vegas. When they woke up, Yang’s friends all checked their social net- works first thing. They had to censor their posts, delete any incriminating pictures, and maybe un-friend some shameful new acquaintances. If they had Sobrr, they would not have had to worry.
Yang’s intention is not to enable the “naughty stuff,” that is, of course, a part of what consumers use the app for. He wants to facilitate casual conversation with people around you who seem interesting.
And, because everything gets deleted, you’re probably going to see the person’s true behavior—not the cleaned up version that he/she puts on Facebook because the family may see.
Sobrr is focused in San Francisco for the time being. However, growth is expected as word gets out about the app that lives in the present.
