Anomo was an app launched as a location-based dating app, but quickly became a social network for introverts.
The app allows users to adopt a near-anonymity by masking identities with avatars.
The app has appealed mainly to 15-20 year olds and has more than 4,500 daily active users, with a 500% growth each month. It has had 40,000 downloads and according to its cofounder, users open the app 18 times a day compared to 14 times a day for Facebook.
Anomo users choose an avatar, select their gender and age range. They are then put into a mixed-gender group with five participants in total for an ice breaker, where they all answer questions in a simple survey. The answers are all revealed at the same time and the app takes note of them so it can match you with users with similar answers. Psychologists were asked to analyse 2 million answers from the ice breakers and found that approximately 85% of users were introverts.
Apparently people are gradually abandoning Facebook for somewhere more private to meet new people. Users want to keep their privacy, until they meet someone that interests them.
So rather than extensively revealing dating profiles or Facebook pages with every detail of your life out there for all to see, the more private way of communicating could be a hit for those more introverted.
"The innovation here is not that you’re anonymous," said Sun, "It’s that you’re wearing a mask."
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