With Twitter users convinced that the company may soon collapse under the new ownership of Elon Musk, many users seem to be fleeing to other social media apps to explore other alternatives to Twitter. One of these alternatives is Hive Social, which reached 1 million users on Tuesday.
Users moving towards Hive Social
Hive Social has reached the Top 20 on the US App Store and is having its moment as one of the most viable alternatives to Twitter. Though it is important to note that around 86 per cent of Hive's total downloads have come from outside the US. The surge in downloads started on Friday and lasted over the weekend pushing the number to a million users.
According to data from app intelligence firm Sensor tower, about 2,14,000 og Hive's total 7,33,000 lifetime installs came over the last one month alone. It was also during this time that the app made the jump to top 20 from its earlier number of 338. In the UK the app is on top 17 whereas in Canada it is yet to enter the top 20.
What is Hive Social?
Hive Social was started in 2019 by a 20 year old Kassandra Pop and is described to be a mix of different platforms. It takes elements from Tumblr and Myspace but is majorly considered a mix between Twitter and Instagram.
How is Hive Social similar to Twitter?
It has similar navigation options with tabs for viewing timeline, discover, accessing user profile and one for notifications. It also has a button in the center that will allow users to create a new post. It also has Twitter's follower-based model.
How is Hive Social different from Twitter?
The app, unlike Twitter, allows users to post without any character limit and it has a different revenue model that doesn't depend on ads. Hive uses a pay model that allows users to pay additional fees if they want to unlock new features. This looks more like the model that Twitter owner Elon Musk wants to implement.
Though it has the old familiarity of Twitter, users have complained that it is more complicated then Twitter. According to users it has a difficult sign up process and has a host of other issues. It is not solely timeline based like Twitter but also has a different section where users can discover their interests with topics like Tech, Cars, Food, Gaming and so on. It allows users here to comment, repost and share content, which is similar to other social media platforms. Users can also click on a hashtag to dive in further into specific topics and explore the topic of their interest or the topics that seem to be trending.
Another distinguishing feature is that Hive is that it favors a chronological feed opposed to personalised algorithm.
What problems could Hive Social face?
One major problem that this social media app could face is that it is run by two people. From managing the app, design marketing and everything else, only two people are managing it. Though impressive it raises questions on the scalability of the app. With more people joining the platform it will get difficult to offer a technically stable app, as there are already reports on the app having loading lag.
Another issue is that the app doesn't have a desktop version which means that the users will only be able to use it on their mobile phones. This can be demotivating for some users who actually use Twitter on their desktops.
The Twitter alternative also doesn't give users the ability to thread Tweets, which means that users will have to keep track of comments. You can't embed Hive posts or share articles as there is no thumbnail available, which means you will basically be sharing only the link. You also will not be able to search people by names, you have to use the exact name of the handle to search for people.
But despite these drawbacks, people seem to be moving to Hive Social. Whether it will come out as an alternative or will it crumble against the pressure of increasing users only time will tell.
