Facebook has acquired the teen-oriented app tbh which can be seen as another attempt to reach out exclusively to the teenage community. The social media giant had earlier unsuccessfully attempted acquiring another teen focused app Snapchat.
Short for ‘To be Honest,’ the newest Facebook acquisition, however, goes against the very core of how Facebook functions given that it requires its users to explicitly reveal their identities to be a member. In contrast, tbh happens to be an anonymous app where the identity of the user is kept under wraps.
Facebook though stated tbh will continue to operate on its own with minimal interference from the social media company. The terms of the deal is also being kept a secret, which includes the financial aspect of it as well.
The app tbh meanwhile has emerged to be a huge success given that it has already notched up a user base of more than 5 million users after it went live just on August 3. The app also has a very interesting functioning style in that it asks its users which among those in their friends list best matches with a given description. All of it is done by way of online polls. The biggest USP here is that members get to keep their individual identities a secret while answering the queries.
Facebook said the one area where their operations converge with tbh is that both strive to build communities.
Also, while they have evolved into being the biggest social media site, a dedicated focus from among teens continues to elude them. The company hopes they can remedy this shortcoming with a separate app like tbh which will be allowed to function independently while remaining within the Facebook fold.
Another nice aspect of tbh is that it promoted positivity among its members. This is quite unlike other such apps such as Yik Yak or Street where members often gang up to bully a fellow member and such.
Such apps also prove to be the place for members to vent out sharp comments about the looks of others. None of that exists on tbh in that members only have the chance to respond to online poll queries.
