VERO

What’s Vero

The short answer. A benign version of Facebook. 

Do you remember when Facebook first come out. You saw your friends posts and they saw yours. My account has evolved into something I am not interested in any longer. My News Feed seems to be 50% showing off what you just did, and 50% people’s opinions about politics and other stuff that I am supposed to do something about if I agree.

​Oh, and ads.
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I think Vero could be the antidote to the hot mess that Facebook has become.

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What Does It Do
You can post and view photos, music, movie/tv, books, links, places. No ads, but you can buy things. For instance, if I posted a song that I like, you will see a link to visit iTunes or Amazon where you could buy it too. 

I will give you a quick rundown with some pictures.

This is your main view, the Stream. Note the button with the plus sign. Tap it to add your posts.

After pressing the '+' button, you choose the type of post you want to make. There are six options: Photo, Link, Music, Movie/TV, Book, and Place.

Each of those post types is also stored in a folder. Everything becomes easily retrievable without wading through your entire history.

Another feature besides the six types of posts is Chat. You can easily select several people to chat with, and you have the option of adding pictures.
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What Can You Do With It
All the things that you would like to do with Facebook without having to fight Facebook to do them. Your posts go to the circles you select. The Public doesn’t see them. You don’t see all the stuff liked by your cousin who is an idiot.

One of the interesting features of Vero is that you can choose whether to see all of your friend’s posts or just the one’s you are interested in. Too many links to political articles? Turn off their “links” feed.

What I Plan To Do With Vero. 
My thought for the moment is to post like I used to on Facebook. You know, before you lost control of what happens to your posts. In addition I will be posting my blog posts here too.

When you post something, you have four circles to choose as your audience. Each larger circle includes the smaller circles. When you connect with someone, you place them in the appropriate circle. The four circles are Close Friends, Friends, Acquaintances, and Followers. 

Close Friends 
For me this is basically a couple handfuls of family and friends. I can see personal photos and places going here. 

Friends
I plan for this circle to have family and friends that aren’t in the ‘Close Friends’ circle. These are people I see regularly and have a relationship with. 

Acquaintances 
Everyone else that I actually know. 

Followers 
You don’t choose followers, they find you. So this is equivalent to ‘public’, but it is YOUR public. 

I would love to see an adult alternative to FB catch on. If you are interested, this is the link to their website. You can also simply get Vero from the App Store. It is free indefinitely for the time being; but at some point, new subscribers will have to pay an annual charge. The first one million users were supposed to be free, but they recently blew past that goal and have over three million users. Vero has another source of revenue. They earn a fee whenever you make a purchase of a book, music, movie, etc. 

I think this is worth taking a look at. It is certainly a more dignified user experience for your clients.