It’s that site that was extremely popular with teens – giving them a space in which they could ask and respond to questions and express themselves in an anonymous environment.
Well it seems it may now have new competition – from UK Start-up, Anonymous Question App Waggle-It, based in London, is an iOS and Android app which seems to take the concept of Ask.FM to a whole new level, for those seeking a new space to ask and answer questions anonymously. The concept behind the app, according to co-founders Felix Hamer and Scott Simpkins is to ‘allow users to crowd source everyday dilemmas’ and enable you to ‘ask multiple choice questions to users in the local area anonymously’.
With Waggle-It, users have the option to ask a text-based question with up to 3 potential answers, as well as being able to define what gender the question is aimed at:
Examples of some of the Questions & how to post a Question on Waggle-It
You can then choose when to close the question, timescale ranges from 5 mins to 1 month. Waggle-It allows users to add hash tags to questions to make them more searchable. The app claims questions can be made private and only viewed when a hash tag is searched. Not sure how private this is, since most users are familiar with how to search using hash tags – potentially exposing those questions which are meant to be private.
Users can also ask a photo-based question, for example ‘What does this outfit look like on?’. You can then attach up to three images to the question, choose who you’d like responses from, and how long you want to run the question for. Within the results section of the app, users have the ability to check how their question is performing by clicking on results. Once the question has ended, users are able to discuss the result via the comments tab, which even allows an outcome to be posted.
You can respond to other users questions via the home screen view, follow a question and move onto another question by swiping up. The Waggle-It card system also allows users to pass on questions they don’t like. This has a ‘negative impact’ according to the Waggle-It guys, (suppressing the algorithm) making that question less visible to other users.
By tabbing into results you can view the Top Rated Questions and discuss their outcomes with other Waggle-It users. Waggle-It’s ‘hive’ concept enables it to specify specific locations within the app. All users start off with a ‘home hive’ ie the default location for asking and answering questions, but if you physically move location you can also switch to other hives allowing users to interact with new communities when on the move.
As you use the app you gain points, which contribute to your status within the app. Right now I am a ‘Drone Bee’, with just 41 points but the app offers the ability to be upgraded or downgraded based on my activity with other bees in the hive. An interesting feature within the Waggle-It app is that there is only one Queen Bee in each hive. However she can be de-throned at any time – a bit like Foursquare’s ‘Mayor’ feature. According to Felix and Scott they’ve taken online anti-social behaviour into account, ‘Waggle-It is a community-based app and requires community policing, trolls will be banned and we encourage users to report inappropriate content using the flagging system to keep the hive a pleasant place to be’.
Waggle-It appears to be aimed at High School and College students. The founders are actively trying to recruit campus reps on the website, whos’ aim I would imagine is to be growing the user base within their colleges or universities.
It’s easy to see how this new app could catch on and attract students, due to its anonymous nature, where users can post and respond to questions without even having to register for an account. The app, like many similar, has the potential to cause distress by being used as a space to post abusive questions and comments. Even with a flagging system in place it will be interesting to see how users get banned or blocked – with limited to no account information
Posted By Wayne Denner
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