New App Going Big On Marketing Campaign
If you want your app to achieve the mainstream success you think it deserves, you need marketing. Casey Neistat seems to be keenly aware of this. Known for producing and appearing in a number of successful Youtube videos, Neistat is branching out into the app market with a new app called Beme. What is Beme? Well if the things you read (or watch on Neistat’s Youtube channel) about it are to be believed, it’s just an advertising campaign, because there’s far more information about that than about what the app itself does. The short of it is that Beme wants to be an alternative to Snapchat, Instagram, or Vine, and what sets it apart is the lack of control you have.
You Don’t See Anything on Beme
When hearing about Beme, it does indeed sound like Snapchat or Vine. Just, you know, without most of the reasons you enjoy using Snapchat or Vine. Beme videos top out at just four seconds long. The app utilizes a proximity sensor in the iPhone, which is next to the camera on the front. The sensor detects how close you are to the phone, and if Beme is open and you are close enough, it starts recording. In theory, you could record hundreds of videos in a day entirely by accident. If you want to see what it is you’ve recorded… too bad. You can’t. You send it to your friends on Beme without ever being able to see the video itself. You hold on the video to watch it, like Snapchat had done before recently doing away with that because it was famously inconvenient. And once you’ve watched your friend’s Beme, it disappears forever, like with Snapchat. When looking for the usernames of friends to send a video to, Beme also offers you the usernames of strangers it thinks you’d find interesting to send it to, if that’s your thing.
Why is Beme Like This?
So why has Beme made the choices it’s made? Neistat wants a more personal experience, one where self-awareness is removed and a freer sense of whimsy replaces it. The idea is an app that’s in the moment. Whereas Snapchat, Instagram and Vine have tools for editing footage, and ways to make your picture look different, Beme wants to display real life. It’s almost noble. It’s also scarily accurate. After all, what’s more in the moment than not knowing what just happened and realizing you have no control? That’s every moment.
