The appearance of a new social network always brings with it a ton of expectation, along with plenty of backlash from other, more established networks. We’ve seen plenty of social networks rise and fall quickly, since only a select few can survive long enough to become successful. However, Vero is the new social network that’s here to stay. Its beautiful design is paired with the possibility to share all sorts of recommendations easily. And it all goes along with one of the app’s main ideals: the idea of sharing content safely and always having control over who can see this information.
Vero, the social network for sharing content like we do in real life
One thing that Vero is most proud of is the idea that it allows users to share content just like in real life. If you chat with a friend about the last movie you saw, this same action can be easily emulated in Vero. This isn’t bad, but it can also be done using other social networks differently. We already have private messages in numerous social networks and the possibility to share content on Facebook with the group of people you choose.
Although this is more of a nice-sounding motto than a unique and groundbreaking idea, the truth is, Vero makes it easy to comment or make recommendations about different things. It’s all really eye-catching and minimalist, turning the app into a patchwork of all our other social networks. The possibilities Vero offers are incredible, and after signing up for the app, where you have to give your phone number, you can enjoy all your friend’s content. And share whatever you want, of course.
How to share content on Vero
After signing up for your Vero account and following the typical process for adding contacts, you can start using the app for real. If you enter in your profile, using the options menu at the top, you can select an image for your profile picture and fill out your biography. You also have the option to add more connections, but the bulk of the app resides on your timeline. In the main feed you’ll see yours and your contacts’ posts. Everything is shown just like the rest of the apps you’re already familiar with, however Vero promises one main difference: you’ll never see advertisements and there’s no content curation on the editorial team’s part in your feed.
The content that’s shown on your timeline depends on what you’ve shared. In Vero, there are three types of contacts: close friend, friend, and acquaintance. When you post content (by tapping the button at the bottom of your profile) you can choose at all times which group you want to share it with. If you want to share something with everyone, all you have to do is select it, and the same goes for when you want to share with just one person or even post something for only your own eyes to see. It’s all very easy and eye-catching to make sure no one gets lost in the process. Plus, you have the possibility to leave a comment or not, with each post you make. That said, the type of content you can post varies widely, so we’re going to explain each and every type of post you can make.
Camera
One of the key features of the app is sharing photos and videos. You can choose an image from your device or take a picture instantly. The app lets you edit them like you would on other social networks, to give them a unique touch if you want. The videos work pretty much the same way, except you can’t edit them at the moment. That said, the videos play infinitely and even have a nice little fade-out at the end.
Link
If you want to recommend a link to a website, you’ll have to select it through an integrated Google search. After entering the website you want to share, you just have to select the image that will be shown on your wall. And if you open the link that you’ve shared, you’ll see the website perfectly.
Music
Mentioning your musical taste or what you’re currently listening to is easy to do. All you have to do is search for the artist of song you want and choose one of the available options: Listening to, Recommend, or Don’t Recommend. The search engine is based on information from iTunes, so you’re sure to find almost any songs you like, unless you’re into some really obscure stuff. If you tap on a music post, you can see more information about the song and hear a sample.
Movie / TV
The search for audiovisual content is done though The Movie Database, which offers a database of movies that other high-quality websites like Letterboxd use. After finding the movie or TV show, all that’s left is to choose the image that you want to show and select one of the options: Watching, Watched, Wants to Watch, Recommend, Don’t Recommend. These options can make your life a whole lot easier when you really don’t feel like writing anything. Once you get in to this type of content, you can see more information: original title, release year, genre, director, cast, and you can even watch the trailer.
Book
iBooks is the database chosen for searching for books. After finding the one you want, you can select one of four options: Reading, Want to read, Recommend, Don’t Recommend. For now, there’s no additional information about the books, so you can only really enjoy looking at the book cover if you tap on the post.
Place
Lastly, you can share your current location or one you search for. Using Google Maps, you can select a specific place, either an address or an establishment, and then you get to choose one of the default comment options: I’m at, Been here, Want to go, Recommend, Don’t Recommend. When you open these types of posts, you can see information about the place, along with a map that shows the exact location.
More from Vero: collections, private messages, notifications…
This new social network has a pretty powerful search engine that lets you see the app’s trending content, as well as find what you want via hashtags or the categories you’ve looked at before. Another important part of Vero are the collections which you can access through the menu at the top of the screen. Here you’ll see all the content you’ve posted in the different categories, letting you see it all neatly organized.
Just like any worthwhile social network, Vero also alerts you of interactions with other users through the typical notifications menu. It’s nothing new, but at least it displays everything nicely and clearly. The same goes for the private chats you can have with contacts. Here you can exchange messages or share images with your friends easily, just like you do on other social networks.
We’re not sure if Vero is here to stay or if it will just end up being another social network we forget about in a few months. But what we can confirm is that it’s an interesting initiative that deserves our attention. That said, it’s currently in beta and its performance isn’t excellent; a lot of the time content we post doesn’t load or it takes a long time to show. All typical problems for this type of version that we hope will be resolved in future updates. The fact that there are no ads is great news, although this is due to the fact that it will charge some sort of annual subscription fee. We’ll see how the app evolves, but for now, this social network seems very promising.
Vero for Android on Uptodown [APK] | Download
