To be honest, we've seen a ton of mobile apps that provide a ton of creative freedom (GoPop and to.be camera come to mind) but none have really taken off. Of course that doesn't mean Byte won't but usually the most widely used UGC apps make it relatively fast and easy to create something cool (e.g. Instagram, Snapchat, Vine) usually through heavy constraints.
I'm curious to hear @dhof's perspective on this.
P.S. @caseynewton from The Verge has an in-depth article on the upcoming app.
@rrhoover I think you're bringing up a very important point and, truthfully, there might not be any real resolution until we've seen how more people take to Byte once its in their hands.
In general, I have high hopes for this category and hope that we can help push it forward. Fast/easy/limited is definitely something that has worked for mobile social-ish apps so far, but that doesn't mean it's the *only* thing that will work. It's easy to look at the trends and conclude that successful apps will all follow one constant trajectory, but it's also worth considering that we might be on some sort of pendulum and that some of the functionality/power we've left behind will need to find its way back in.
Most of our team grew up with software like Logo, KidPix, Mario Paint, Gameboy Camera, HyperCard, Visual Basic, Geocities, and Photoshop. The gap between "using" a computer and "programming" or "making" on a computer wasn't as wide as it is today. There's something important about that to us, and I'm not sure it's just nostalgia.
As far as the app itself goes, we're spending much of our time polishing the creator and trying to make it as simple as possible. Along with the creator, there are some unique twists in the service (and interaction model) itself. Some of this was mentioned in the Verge article and on our site, but there is quite a bit more, and we're working hard to figure out the best way to share it.
@dhof@rrhoover
>> The gap between "using" a computer and "programming" or "making" on a computer wasn't as wide as it is today.
That would be not be true for an older generation I guess. Also, the computer was never with the masses in the way the smartphone is today - I mean globally. But I do really appreciate what you are saying :)
I've been on the beta for some time now. I find it really hard to demo it well - ie when you're trying to show off the use case i often make bad/boring bytes. Once you understand how Byte works it's very easy to make things that would otherwise have been very difficult or time consuming. It's great for humor, commenting on a screen shot, making a video a bit more fun, and i like blending a lot of pics and videos together with it. The compose tool is really innovative and the UI is quite easy to navigate. It is probably about 5-10x more timely to make a Byte than a Snap, but it's probably 100x easier to make things that are a little more complex that typically would require desktop software. I'm excited to see what people will create with it!
Hi there! Founder of Byte here. I'm a bit late to the (dolphin) party. :)
Happy to answer any questions you have about the product. Also, just send me an email if you'd like to be included in an upcoming beta waves. (dom at byte dot co).
@dhof Hi Dom,
The app clicked for me when the video zoomed out and you can see many other Bytes. I'm pretty excited to see what the creative minds of the internets create with Byte, I'm sure it'll be funny as hell.
I have one question, will it be possible to "fork" some else's Byte and improve it? I could see some funny escalations there.
I'll be happy to be part of the beta, can't promise a lot of content but I'll for sure consume it. It that could be of any help, my email is contact (at) luissolano (dot) com.
Cheers!
- Luis
I've been fortunate enough to be able to play with the app as it is now, and it's absolutely amazing. When really creative people get their hands on it, what they create is so freaking awesome. I don't know if it will be too complex for some people but if they can hit a solid 1/10/100 ratio (1 power creator to every 10 responders and 100 consumers) they'll be great because consuming the content is so fun. Dom is also a genius.
@dhof seems like the beauty of vine is that content creators can get in front of the camera and show some personality (eg. vine comedians). I can see the appeal of this to creatives but when creating the app who did you have in mind for it.
BTW, def sign me up for the beta! Email sent. =)
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