Blurr - We connect peoples' shared experiences through photos

@johnsteerfowler John thanks for interest in Blurr! Be interested to hear more of your thoughts as you test the app out 😊. We currently have a report option where a certain amount of unique reports will delete the photo. User also have the option to block an individuals users photo for that individual Blurr. Although as there aren't profiles or friends you don't know who you're blocking - just you don't like their picture and you don't want to see them anymore so you can block them

@sam_marley thanks for the reply, appreciate it. It's nice to hear you have considered abuse to some extent. I am a little worried about privacy, especially since it's based on location, common scenarios could involve people who know each other (I'm thinking schools, workplaces, social venues here). With growth and success, you would find yourself quickly needing to implement privacy features, so it's a good idea to consider them early.

@ryanheybourn @sam_marley yeah, that might go some way to circumventing privacy issues. I picture future issues in schools with opening up potential new bullying channels. Photos can go viral at a school fast enough when you have to physically send it to someone, let alone when it's automatically done for you in a convenient radius. Something to consider

@johnsteerfowler @ryanheybourn Really great feedback here guys, and scalability in terms of privacy with growth is something we're always thinking about. However, what we've seen to be our 'special sauce' in so many use cases is users seeing photos people that they don't know have taken, particularly if its of themselves. There's the surprise and 'warm' feeling when you see the pic, knowing full well without Blurr there is 0% chance you would have got access to it. We think its key to create a community of 'Blurrers' where the correct type of content is pushed to be added - which we've done a great job of so far!

@dsmatichuk Hey David! Great point, and completely agree with you! In our product roadmap that is a feature we're going to change - to enable users to have a more long lasting experience with the photos and albums. At present users can download the photos within the 24 hour period then of course visit them at any time on their iPhone Photos - but once we remove that they will be coming back to Blurr! Your use case for projects and progress is very interesting. Photos are ordered chronologically which would fit the use case even further. Do you have designated 'picture takers' that upload the progress? Or do you encourage everyone to take pictures and upload?

@sam_marley currently, very few use google docs so my access to photographers is limited. Even those who do use it prefer not to because it's such a chore to upload, sync or select the correct folder. I like the gps idea. Just take pictures without thinking and the time and location automatically assigns the photo to the correct project and the submitter/user identifies the team. This would enable me to get everyone taking pictures. The more the better. I like the idea of getting everyone to take before and after shots of everything they do. That's an MVP right there.

@dsmatichuk The auto-assign concept is essentially how our back-end operates to 'assign' photos right now, but they're assigned to users 'Blurrs' based on matched time and location. That's how images are populated onto users feeds. So essentially it is the same concept, but Blurr is obviously directed to more social situations. We are actively adding ways for users 'Blurrs' to become more individualised to them, but we've also been approached to take that to a macro-level. In your case its having your construction areas indvidualised and auto filtered - but the value prop is also huge for event venues and sports arenas as I'm sure you can imagine. Do you think you would experience back-lash requiring people to take a lot of pictures?

@zacherynielson Thanks Zac! Really appreciate the kind words. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on other photo-sharing strategies and why you think they maybe haven't succeeded. We're definitely taking a unique approach, but interested to hear from you what you see as being so different. Thanks again!

@tyler_swartz Thanks Tyler, really appreciate it! Great to hear from a Blurr fan, and looking forward to continually improving and building on the the product!

@tyler_denk Thanks Tyler! Really appreciate the kind words and love for Blurr. And completely agree, we have quite the team over here that are an incredible set of people to work with! As I'm sure you know being a Co-Founder, people are everything and we couldn't be happier to be working with the best day in, day out.

@juanbuis Hey Juan! Thanks for the feedback and insight, and you're totally right this has been tried and tested in multiple ways. Blurr's differentiator come in two ways: 1) We're instantaneous: most photo-sharing products focus on the 'post-activity' sharing side of it. Where you go back, create groups, select photos, choose people, and then eventually share. With Blurr, you have to start a Blurr live in the event to not only share the raw photos you're taking but also get access to all the others. 2) We're purely based on location: We connect people who are together in very small pockets of space, having the same shared experience. That means you don't just get access to photos your friends decide to post in your current desired sharing method - you get all the incredible moments captured by others around you. Put yourself at a concert and you have nose bleed seats. Someone on the front row captures a great picture of the whole crowd on Blurr - you get instant access to it that you can view, save and share how you please. We don't see another product out there that instantaneously provides that. Would love to hear your thoughts on iCloud Photo Sharing - what are your current pain points with this method? Have you tried anything else?

@shellehs Hey! Thanks for the comment, and yes you're completely correct - for others around you to see the images they also have to download Blurr. Building this 'community' of users is actually what people love about us and the in-the-moment sharing is a big selling point for the app. Users enjoy the experience as much as the end goal of actually getting the pictures we have found!

@naeem Hey Naeem, great point - and very relevant. I think the key difference is Color's overall goal was to become the next major social network - based only on proximity. They had profiles, encouraged sharing of pictures in every location, and essentially wanted users to use Color as a 24/7/365 addictive product. Blurr is completely different in nature, as we operate as a utility app at specific times where users are actually taking a lot of pictures - which given contrary belief isn't all the time. When 'Blurring', it is usually in a very value driven way i.e. at a wedding, party etc where you use Blurr to heighten the experience with everyone around you i.e. getting the shared album of all their photos. Color tried to fundamentally change human behaviour by encouraging them to create content in un-natural places and share only in that place, we don't do that. Blurr compliments the content creation that is already occurring by letting you see everyone else's photos and creating a community of users/people during that time. The social element that will eventually come with Blurr is post-'blurring' - where we aim to continually allow users to react, interact, share and re-enjoy their experience in a variety of ways. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Can you think of any other apps that have started as pure utility and eventually grown into more social products?

@sam_marley Instagram :) Good answer though. Color's idea was fundamentally sound, they just got carried away. All the best to you.

@allthingsmarco Great question! Moments have done a good job removing the barriers to sharing photos post-moment, but what we see is Moments is still very much an 'individualistic' sharing product in terms of you share the 'moments' or 'suggestions' of photos you have created with specific people. This doesn't bring together photos taken by everyone (even if its just you and your friends) into one place so in our view really doesn't solve the issue. We're living in the experience-centric era, and when using Blurr you automatically get a complete shared album displaying the whole experience in one feed.