What is a Positivity App?

When I hear the term "Positivity App", I can't help but think self-help app. I agree that we use a lot of apps to make us feel good. It feels good to see beautiful selfies on Instagram or to witness our friends travelling the world on Facebook photos. It feels good, that's why we do it right? So what's the hook with a positivity app? Will they improve our self-esteem, enable us to feel like we are contributing positive to the world? I don't really know...

Two cases in point, with my ears to the ground in the world of startups, here is what I have turned up. Peeple is trying to brand itself as the web's biggest positivity app, after controversy over saying it won't allow people to opt-out of its peeple rating app. Now, saying that, may very well have been a publicity stunt. If it was, it seems to have worked. 

Peeple is an app that allows you to rate and comment about the people you interact with in your daily lives on the following three categories: personal, professional, and dating.

The other positivity app that I know of is Kwirk, a nice orange interface that is much more like a social media interface for giving compliments, which I can see the altruism in (giving compliments makes us and others feel good) and the innovation (adjicons are varied and flexible), pretty much advanced "likes". 

Kwirk's adjicons are adjective icons that are encapsulated hashtags made to fit every photo, event and person imaginable and number over 400!

Personally I'm curious about both of these Canadian startups. Because branding yourself as a "positivity app" is a risky maneuver. This is because you set the bar high. 

Julia Cordray of Peeple, lives life on the edge, with entertaining YouTube videos spinning the public and media outcry in her favor. Following her edgy brand recently got rather entertaining. 

Genie Meideiros of Kwirk, is more humble and passionate about the cause of anti-bullying. I find both personalities really passionate about their respective angles. 

Peeple is branded by the international media as the a doomsday "Yelp for people", or even considered a hoax by others. While some brands feed off of controversy, I'm waiting for an actual beta to get a closer look. Let's not forget, the idea of spying on people on Facebook was once controversial. While online privacy is a big deal for some people, for the new generation it's the norm and we are personal privacy protection literate. 

Peeple does not allow profanity, bullying or hate speech and tries to emphasize the positive.

I don't see what the big deal is. Both of these could add value to the social media and authenticity mobile universe. The Adjicons of Kwirk, are so innovative I'd use them as my own virtual emoticons, far superior to the lame ones facebook is testing out to evolve past its binary like.

On Kwirk, whether you want your friends to know that they’re trendy, or that their foodie pics look delicious, you have the ability to compliment your world in a unique way.

Meanwhile, I think peeple has maybe innate potential to help transparency and our online reputation really take shape. I'm equally excited for each, and I don't have trouble seeing the positive in them. Peeple feels more like for adults and potential professional reputation screening, while Kwirk feels more like for teenagers and like a safe corner of the social media spectrum, it's like comparing apples and oranges and I truly don't see them as competitors apart from them both claiming to be "positivity apps" and both being recent startups in Canada. 

Any app that thinks it can make a positive impact upon the world, has got my attention.Because let's face it, Instagram and Facebook aren't necessarily platforms that make the world a better place! 

Both platforms are in Beta to the best of my knowledge. To sign up for Peeple go here. To get the link to sign up for beta on Android of Kwirk, contact them here (it's already live in IoS). To get a better idea of what Adjicons are that are used on Kwirk, download this app for android, which also allows you to create your own adjicons, the kind of customization I think in an age of user generated content, we all want.

The first app that can combine SMS, positivity, UGC, video content and redefine mobile content with real innovation and be a social media disruptor, will be a permanent fixture in the ever increasing and varied social media context of the world wide web. I want to see a corporate mobile app like LinkedIn for mobile. Pinterest and Snapchat brought something new, so what's next? Is it Kwirk, is it Peeple, we'll have to wait and see and find out. 

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Michael Spencer helps companies improve their content marketing, social media, viral marketing and user-generated content initiatives. He is especially interested in helping innovative startups with their digital marketing needs. 

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