One year after PeerReach introduced a platform for finding the most authoritative people on a given topic, the Amsterdam-based startup has now launched its first consumer-focused product.
Indeed, knowing who to ‘trust’ on Twitter when you’re new to the platform is a tough nut to crack, but it is one that typically happens over time. Understandably, many people don’t give something time if they can’t see any value in it, which is where PeerReach is hoping to help.
Founded in 2011 by Zlatan Menkovic and Nico Schoonderwoerd, PeerReach began as an index of content creators on social media networks such as Twitter. Now it’s moving beyond its business-focused roots and into the consumer realm with Current.ly, which promises to guide you towards the “most important discussions, virals and memes” happening on Twitter.
Yes, Current.ly wants to solve one of Twitter’s age-old issues of encouraging engagement among new users – discovery. Here’s a quick peek under the hood of the iOS app.
Current.ly: The lowdown
Current.ly is currently (ha!) tailored towards three locations only – the Netherlands, the UK and the US of A. Within each location, you’ll see a slew of hashtagged words representing what people are actually talking about on Twitter.
You can drill down into all the tweets, and see what some of the key movers and shakers are saying about that topic.
That’s pretty much Current.ly in a nutshell. But why would anyone wish to use this over the existing Discovery and Trending options within the main Twitter client itself?
Well, firstly Current.ly taps the data from its own PeerReach platform, which analyzes Twitter to see who’s an authority on any given subject. In other words, this doesn’t just display tweets from everyone who’s tweeting about it, and it doesn’t serve up tweets from celebrities just because they happen to mention a topic – it shows who’s knowledgeable and ‘worthy’ of your time. Well, in theory at least.
Crucially, Current.ly isn’t trying to be another Twitter client. Indeed, it definitely isn’t a Twitter client – you can’t tweet from this or even sign-in with your Twitter credentials. This is entirely an account-free service that uses nothing but topics and location to try and sift through Twitter’s white noise.
Though Current.ly is an iOS-only affair for now, a Web-based incarnation will be landing shortly. And we’re told Android is in their thoughts too, though there’s no time-frame at present.
Current.ly is an interesting use of PeerReach’s own data and tools, and helps test it out on a consumer-focused public forum. But when all is said and done, it’s perhaps not something that will see success among its professed target audience – Twitter noobs. Indeed, if someone isn’t quite ‘getting’ the whole Twitter buzz, it’s unlikely they’re going to go searching for a third-party tool to make it more appealing and relevant.
And what about other non-noob users? Well, would you really want to switch between two apps – your main Twitter client and Current.ly? Indeed, it’s difficult to see how this will fit within any user-base.
Current.ly is available to download now.
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