It’s a perilous path to success in the world
of social media applications.
Pinpointing the direction of a shifting market, while simultaneously satisfying an unmet consumer need is a nearly impossible task to accomplish. Have you heard of Ping, Eons, or Diaspora? My point exactly.
The latest craze, Peach, hit the scene at the beginning of the New Year, and could already be in the pits (no pun intended). Tech bloggers and social media junkies eagerly hopped on the hype train for this iOS app. Since that time, Peach downloads have taken a sharp tumble. App Annie shared alarming download stats that show the decline in new users.
But what exactly is this new social app? Peach has been compared to Tumblr, Instagram, and Snapchat with its private messaging and chat capabilities. Rather than a full service platform, Peach keeps the posting fairly simple. The real fun is when you find the magic words. There are number of keywords that when typed will allow you to post images, gifs, the weather from today, or even sketch a picture (see my attempt at an American Flag below).
The founder of Vine and Peach creator, Dom Hofmann, has since tried to squeeze the remaining juice (no more puns, I swear) out of the publicity by launching an official desktop, online app. This stripped down version takes out most of the charm of the mobile app, but offers visibility for those without an iPhone.
The real problem with Peach is the lack user connectivity. From the very beginning, I felt like something was off. Finally, it hit me; there is no centralized news feed like our favorite social channels. You actually have to click on a friend’s feed to see any of their posts. Engaging with them seems clunky and counter intuitive. At times, it almost feels like you’re having a conversation with yourself.
Another frustrating aspect of Peach’s engagement is the lack of sharing functionality. There are no real opportunities to retweet or share posts. There are also no hashtags where content is consolidated and easily consumed. The only real sharing function available is by saving posts to your camera roll.
Peach does not currently have the stickiness to keep users around. In the coming weeks, Peach will most likely need a big VC investment and the vision to continue building on their initial hype. . Although a seven-figure infusion of capital sounds like the perfect fix for this app you can’t fake a rapidly growing faction of engaged users. This peach may be too ripe to save.
Peach attracted great initial traction for a reason, but is it already dead? Social media continues to trend towards privatized chat, but Peach would do well to remember what makes Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so popular – their sharing is social by nature. Now is the time to register your unique username and wait to see if Peach’s popularity can burst through the fuzz (yes, my puns continually got worse).
Do you have any other social media platforms that you enjoyed that did not succeed? What do you think makes a social media channel sticky?