Facebook has reportedly been struggling to hold on to the teen audience, who appear to see the main Facebook product as something their parents use, and prefer platforms that offer less permanence in the things posted such as Snapchat.
This is clearly something that has been troubling the social media giant, who have been trying to make inroads into the teen sector in a variety of ways – including adding Snapchat style features to their Messenger product.
Another step Facebook has taken to appeal to teens seems to be their recent buyout of an app called tbh (which is used online as an abbreviation for 'to be honest'), as reported by capitalwired.com.
What Is tbh?
The tbh app is a recent phenomenon that was launched in August, and is now available in 37 states in the USA, though currently it is only for iOS. It is marketed as an app that allows teens to send positive thoughts about each other anonymously.
The way it works involves presenting users with a question, such as 'who is a future style icon?' or 'who should be the DJ at every party?', and giving them a choice of four friends to pick as the answer to the question. If no friends fit the bill, they can click shuffle to be presented with a different set of friends to use in their answers, or they can skip the question altogether.
All the questions are designed to be positive.
When someone chooses you as the answer to the question you will be notified – and while it will tell you if it was a boy or a girl who picked you, it will be anonymous.
Why Do Teens Love tbh?
What seems to be the appeal of tbh to the teen market is that it is fun and makes social stuff with friends like a game. The intention is that teens who use it will feel good about themselves as their friends choose them as the answers to positive questions. The multiple-choice format makes it impossible to use in a mean-spirited way, so teens aged 13 and up can use it with their classmates without the worry of cyberbullying.
Equally, the anonymity adds an air of fun and gossip. A girl may know a boy picked her as being 'as hot as the sun', but she won't know who it was, allowing people to compliment their crushes without revealing themselves.
Where Will Facebook Take It?
The team responsible for tbh have been moved to Facebook HQ to continue their development. It can be assumed that the first thing they will want to do is expand the coverage of the app to other locations and to Android, and then perhaps to apply it outside of schools and colleges so adults can use it too – just as Facebook started out as a college network.
Whether Facebook will then try and integrate tbh features into their main product remains to be seen, however it is possible this is part of the plan to get younger users back on the site.