Facebook has drawn the curtains of three of its apps — Moves, Hello and tbh as they failed to make an impact and faced low usage. As per a report by The Verge, Facebook will delete their user data within 90 days.
According to the report, Moves along with Hello not only faced low usage numbers but also a lack of development. Since the apps were launched, neither of them saw much improvement and neither of them was updated in over a year. Hello lasted just four months before being killed off.
On the other hand, tbh was supposed to be a bigger deal and for those that don’t know, it was an anonymous social media app that allowed high school students to send prewritten compliments to one another. This app was targeted at a younger audience that mandated anonymity and positivity. It was intended to be in the vein of Yik Yak, another social media app.
Out of the three apps that have been shut, tbh is considered as the biggest failure as it was only bought in October and launched just 11 months ago.
The report states, “Facebook has gone through phases where it decides to experiment with lots of new apps by breaking out parts of Facebook or trying out seemingly niche new ideas to see if they catch on. By and large, they haven’t, but it means those apps’ eventual failures aren’t necessarily a huge deal on an individual level (although Facebook’s general failure to build out almost anything it hasn’t bought with an existing audience arguably is). And in some cases, it’s possible Facebook was as or more interested in the team behind the app than the actual app.”
However, as Instagram Stories continues to gain popularity, Facebook may not be feeling too threatened by the deluge of teen-friendly apps as they once were. But as is the case with the failure of tbh, it shows how difficult of a market that is to break in to.
The company issued a blog post stating, “It’s only by trial and error that we’ll create great social experiences for people.”
