Facebook’s new messaging app is all about teenagers.
The social network said Monday that it bought the free anonymous messaging app ‘tbh’ for an undisclosed amount.
It was just a few weeks ago in September when tbh, which stands for “to be honest” was topping the Apple (AAPL) app store as one of the most popular apps for teenagers, having only debuted in August.
Like other messaging apps including Yik Yak, Secret, and Sarahah, tbh’s users can interact with each other anonymously, making it desirable among teens. But while many of these apps earned harsh criticism from people concerned that teenagers could spread gossip and bully each other without consequences, tbh pitches itself as a messaging service that’s all about positivity.
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Instead of sending each other biting remarks on people’s looks or social status, tbh’s users can only participate in online polls in which they can rate people in categories like who “Makes you laugh the hardest.”
Although teenagers apparently love anonymously ranking people they know without any controversy, it’s unclear if Midnight Labs, the app’s parent company, could ever make money on the service. In a frequently-asked-questions portal on the company’s website, Midnight Labs staff wrote “We don’t have plans to monetize tbh right now but when we do, we’ll be soliciting feedback from the community to make sure it complements the experience.”
While not a money-maker, the fact that the tbh app attracted such a youthful audience is likely one reason Facebook (FB) was interested. The social network has been losing its teen users to the photo-and-video-sharing rival Snapchat (SNAP) as well as its own photo-service Instagram, according to a recent forecast released in August by EMarketer.
“Teens and tweens remaining on Facebook seem to be less engaged—logging in less frequently and spending less time on the platform,” EMarketer analyst Oscar Orozco told Bloomberg News at the time.
A Facebook spokesperson told Coins2Day that the company intends to keep tbh operating as standalone service and will keep the ‘tbh’ branding.