Join me on the journey trough the app’s history after it’s shutdown. announced back in November that they’re in late January. In June 2016 they introduced their version 1.0, after a long beta period. But their story started almost two years back. I used Beme since the very beginning and wanna show you what has changed in this timeframe. Beme shutting down the app Beme introduced by the Founder Casey Neistat One of my favorite apps Beme became quite rapidly. This isn’t very easy to accomplish, considering that the app is in with services like . While these focus on aspects like self-promotion and nice (approved) content. Beme felt very different. one of my preferred sharing apps direct competition Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram Other apps focus more on self-promotion, Beme felt very different. For me as a filmmaker, is a big deal. Competitors introduced video features in the last years, but it isn’t built into their core philosophy. Beme does only this and does it great. a platform to purely share video content Launch Beme went live in summer 2016 with support for iOS. For sure I had to try it out. I was one of the first people in my country who was using the new app. The interface in a beta version (late 2015) Later I used Beme quite intensely to share my daily life at the army. I could attract a lot of people by sharing my daily routines. Within my 4 months in the army, I doubled the number of followers I had on Instagram. I was featured under the section “interesting people”. I shared my daily life in the army and could attract a lot of people Knowing that a lot of people were watching my Beme’s, made it easier for me to stick to a regular schedule. But at some point, the audience felt to fade away. It seemed to not grow anymore. Reintroduction — Stable 1.0 Beme was launched as a beta version from the beginning. After more than half a year they introduced a first stable version. They tried to fix all the errors they discovered during their beta phase. After the “relaunch”, Beme got a little boost. But this boost sadly faded away after a while. It’s not easy to survive I mean, Beme’s competing directly with giants like Snapchat or Instagram. For a 12 heads team this battle is very hard to win. Knowing this, Beme was doing very well. But it was not enough. Instagram Story was the final dead At some point, Beme wasn’t used that often. The “famous” people shared very seldom. There was on the platform anymore. In my opinion, it was just a question of time until I received news like the shut down of Beme. At least, after the launch of Instagram Story the engagement dropped again. I, by myself, explored other apps to share in a similar way. no engagement Features Share moments and don’t miss them This could be done by pressing the phone to your body or holding it against a wall. As a result, you weren’t able to see your screen while recording. This feature and how they experience the app drastically. In my opinion to the good. All users could With Beme, exactly this is possible. This feature also adds more handy behaviors: Beme just records when the infrared sensor is covered. directs the way how people share share their moments without missing moments in real life. I can share without being watched by others. I’m kinda . sharing anonymously It’s so . Just cover the screen, release it and almost done. The app will handle the upload in a matter of seconds. easy to publish Don’t miss stuff while watching trough your phone. Share moments without missing moments in real life. Share videos Beme is built around the idea of . Stills are not possible. Back then, at the very beginning, this was a very new experience. Nowadays most social media platforms allow video content. This has different reasons, one of the biggest is that it’s now possible to send video content (larger files) over the mobile to the users. However, videos on Beme were never distributed in high resolution. sharing video and just video network Reactions Social media without interactions are not social and does not exist, right? . Beme introduced a feature called “reactions”. Until now, I personally have to this and I will miss it. With reactions, anyone was able to . While watching a video you could send a picture of you taken by your front face camera, which is always pointing at you. Later the also introduced video reactions. Comments, votes or likes are features we know never seen anything similar react in an uncensored, true and fast way Facebook added a handful of emojis to represent more moods to choose from. While we’re still limited by 5 emojis, it was a great improvement. Beme was still on top of everything when Facebook launched their new feature. A selfie tells more than a handful of emojis and is a lot faster to do. A picture tells more than a handful of emojis Reactions like this aren’t possible in another way and they make me happy Selfie-Mode At the very beginning, it was just possible to record while covering the infrared sensor of your phone. Later, in version 1, they introduced the possibility to press a record button inside the app. At the same time, they also . From this point on it was possible to use the front camera of the phone. While Beme , the screen went black while recording. It’s or the subject your pointing at while recording. added a selfie-mode stayed true to its philosophy not possible to see yourself For me, this is a huge deal. I don’t like this selfie mentality of today. Instagram and especially Snapchat support and force these. I don’t like this selfie mentality of today. User Interface The UI took a very hard turn. At first, the app was not very worked out design wise. Dark with green colors, not the modern look we are used to. But at least it was flat and something special. Later, they tweaked a lot on the design and turned the app into a bright and cleaner interface. UI transition between the very beginning to the end Goodbyes are always hard :( In later 2016 I received the news that ’s and ’s company was acquired by CNN. Later in the evening I also received a mail which told me that Beme will be shut down. This was the direct consequence of the acquisition. They bought the whole Beme squad to create something amazing. Their goal is to Casey Neistat Matt Hackett get millennial to the CNN news services. It’s getting interesting I believe Casey Neistat and his team is the perfect fit for this. Their goal is to While Casey knows both worlds pretty well, he has the ability to push new stuff forwards. While a handful of developers in the ex-beme team have the ability to create stunning software. The old fashion media needs a revolution. bridge the gab between social media and traditional media. The old fashion media needs a revolution. Months before the announcement, the whole team was . An example was the app ( ) launched for the election 2016 in the US. They’re also played around with virtual reality. experimenting with different technologies and software Exit Poll The future looks bride for the team The acquisition by CNN isn’t just luck. It was a solution besides many for the company. Trying to push Beme even more would be very hard and not worth the outcome. and I’m also stocked to see what they’ll create. We’ll see it in summer 2017 according to CNN. The media company put very much thrust into the Beme team. They stay as an isolated company and will The future looks very interesting for the team get full creative freedom. will face the Beme team. I hope they can really achieve something big in the next years. This time they’ve got New and different challenges a big player in the back. Casey’s vlogs Casey started his vlog about one and a half year ago. It was just before he founded Beme with his business partner Matt, which was an engineer at Tumblr. I’m very certain that the for the upcoming app. As we know, the channel turned out very well. At some point, Beme faded away and Casey focused more on entertainment in his daily videos. vlog was a marketing instrument Casey’s vlogs were a marketing instrument for Beme at first Whether the vlogs initial argument where a marketing or personal driven decision, . Everyone is doing vlog these days. Watching his vlogs were very interesting and funny. Casey reinvented the vlog scene Watching vlogs turned into a habit It turned into a habit for me personally. I watched Casey’s videos almost every evening before going to bed. Other watch series, I prefer watching vlogs. They have certain pros. They’re shorter and add more value to my personal life while it’s still a type of entertainment. Other watch series, I prefer watching vlogs. Recap The last year and a half using Beme were great. I was able to . Most content is shot in first person view (POV) thanks to the feature with the infrared sensor. share content of my life in an unfiltered and fast way Most content is shoot in first person view (POV) Sadly the app never took off. For me personally, . I had more followers on Beme than on other social media platform. I was using Beme a lot — daily. Using Instagram took more time than using Beme while creating less content. the app was a success I was able to share content of my life in an unfiltered and fast way. I will remember the app very positively and hope that other apps will implement some features Beme introduced. I hope that other apps will implement some features Beme introduced. Recommended article: _Why I’m proud we’re joining CNN_medium.com Beme is Shutting Down, But Our Work Is Just Starting — _WordPress. Front-End Development. UX. Cinematography. Landscape Photography. Time-Lapse Video._ Marc Wieland
