[liberationtech] The Vibe App, Anonymous GeoSocial Media

[Don Cadora]

The Vibe App

Gaining popularity worldwide, Vibe is a geosocial mobile app that gained a
real world application during Occupy Wall Street Protests. Users
anonymously communicate by location with text, images, and video.

The Vibe App allows users to share messages within certain distances—160
feet to worldwide— with the option that they will be automatically deleted
within a set amount of time that they control, from 15 minutes to 30 days,
or longer.

Anonymous Geosocial Media

Vibe bypasses the limits of social networks, followers, and location
check-ins. Instead, Vibe lets you communicate directly to the people around
you. Vibe is a tool for talking to the crowd in small or large gatherings
like rallies, concerts, classes, and the workplace.

Vibe is anonymous. Users can see where you are and what you have to say,
but not who you are. Unless you want them to. Many users opt to tweet their
Vibe posts while others create a custom Vibe signature.

Vibe has been successfully used during the Occupy Wall Street movement not
because it's political, but because it works. Vibe may be perfect for the
Occupy movement, but it was created with a different intent. Vibe creator,
Hazem Sayed, says in Times Techland, “It seems to have a use case in a
gathering like this, but initially it was designed for students and
colleges, for people at outdoor events at the park [or other events where
you could post] the kind of things you wouldn’t post on Twitter, because it
wouldn’t make sense to your followers – it’s very local.”

The anonymous options are essential to the app. Sayed says, “The Internet,
when it started, had this promise of anonymity. That’s largely lost because
almost everything is now connected to Facebook or Twitter – even magazines
and newspapers and websites use that as a mechanism to sign-in in order to
leave comments.”

Some questions for the LiberationTech Community

Given the success of Vibe during the Occupy Wall Street movement, where
else would the technology be of use? We think it may be of use to other
social movements worldwide, universities, and local economies.
Is anonymous social media useful to protesting populations? Are there any
dangers inherent in anonymous networks? Some media coverage of Vibe implied
that the app could be dangerous.

Participate in the Future of Vibe

Vibe is releasing version 1.5 in February. It will integrate many of the
functions of another app by the Vibe creators called Ask Local. Currently
you can toggle back and forth between the two apps through Vibe.

We encourage you to Download Vibe and Ask Local and please do give us your
feedback.


Thanks so much,

Don Cadora
Vibe Community Manager

Links-
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*Test the App <http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vibe/id433067417?mt=8>*
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Time Magazine, Techland<http://techland.time.com/2011/10/03/move-over-twitter-occupy-wall-street-activists-feel-the-vibe/>
Reuters
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-usa-occupy-idUSTRE80807P20120109?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+reuters/topNews+%28News+/+US+/+Top+News%29>
New York Times, Bits
Blog<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/anonymous-messaging-app-vibe-gets-boost-from-occupy-wall-street/>