Noplace: Bringing Community Focus Back to Social Media and What It Could Mean for Brands

How often do you use social media? As for me, I'm addicted to Instagram and YouTube. The addiction is mostly caused by media consumption that's served up by algorithms based on my interests. Honestly, I'm not having any meaningful chats with my family and friends online. Social media has largely lost its social aspect. There's an app called Noplace in town that aims to reverse this trend. Let's see what it's all about…

Noplace is unusual …

Noplace is a new social media app that just exploded on the App Store. Founded by Tiffany Zhong, the app puts interactivity at the center of online conversations. Designed for Gen Z's, Noplace combines Myspace nostalgia with live, online chatter from Twitter/X.

Visually, the app offers colorful, customizable profiles that let people share everything from relationship statuses, to what they're listening to, watching, reading, eating, and doing. Basically, it lets you connect with other users based on your shared interests, or "stars," as it calls them. Users can add things like astrology signs, personality types, hobbies, or fandoms to their profiles, which makes them discoverable. It even has a “Top 10 friends” section, reminiscent of Myspace’s top 8. Once you've added your new friends, you can use the friends-only feed.

The idea behind Noplace is to make it easy for people to follow friends and connect with others who share their interests. Using the app's mini profile, users can share what they're up to right now and customize it to reflect their interests. So far, Noplace only supports text-based updates and doesn't support photos or videos, which makes it different.

… with interesting features …

When I heard about the app, I was intrigued by how quickly it reached high rankings in the App Store. After checking out the app for a few days, I found a few features that were quite different from social media as we know it. I like how you can customize profiles, from background colors to current vibe. It's young and fresh for Gen Z who don't have the context of Myspace. Those who build an influencer status on the app could become partners for branded profile templates or create customizable brand-themed backgrounds.

With its focus on text instead of images, the app offers a different way to create social media content. With Noplace, marketers and copywriters can write engaging, concise copy that resonates with their target audience. It might be interesting to explore storytelling and character development using text based on the profile of app users.

For Gen X’s like myself, it has nostalgic appeal. Noplace taps into nostalgia of platforms like Myspace, creating a sense of community. The UI is heavily inspired by video games from the 80's and 90's. With pixelated icons and a color wheel, this app lets you create a customized profile that looks cool and retro. Brands could leverage retro aesthetics and campaigns that evoke a sense of nostalgia.

In order to get people interested and generate demand, Noplace used an invite-only marketing strategy. This helped create a sense of desire among people to sign up. Now you can sign up just by using your phone number, and you can invite friends. Marketers can use this to increase brand awareness among early adopters. They could offer exclusive content or products to Noplace users, too.

… that could pave way for better marketing strategies ...

In the highly competitive and chaotic world of social media, everyone is looking for ways to hack the algorithm to gain reach, engagement, and conversions. It's because social media platforms have gradually moved away from being community-driven to being content-driven. Through Noplace, Tiffany wants to make social media feel more community-like. Noplace can potentially influence marketing strategies if it gets more popular and stays community-driven.

It could help brands get real engagement with their target audience. With open conversations, polls, and contests, they could encourage genuine interactions with users. While Noplace is currently only text-based, it could help brands foster a community where users create brand-related content, leveraging the platform's customization features. This app is geared towards digital natives, so it has the potential to become the go-to platform for brands looking to tell a compelling story that resonates with their target audience.

It could also be highly relevant for demographics and interests-based ads. There are plans to expand group chat with AI tools to strengthen conversations. As the app matures, contextual advertising could come along.

… across sectors.

Considering the app's growing popularity with digital natives and announced forthcoming features, Noplace could make its way into marketing strategies soon. Particularly in certain sectors like fashion and lifestyle, food and beverage, tech and gaming, beauty and wellness, and education.

By engaging in casual, relatable conversations with their target audience, streetwear and indie fashion and lifestyle brands can build a strong, authentic brand image. Accessory and jewellery brands could create a sense of exclusivity and desire with the feature of inviting friends.

Restaurants and cafes could build brand loyalty by sharing daily specials and engaging in food-related conversations. By hosting recipe contests and sharing user-generated content, F&B brands could build a sense of community around their products. They could also dip into the food-related discussions.

Game companies could create buzz around their upcoming games, engage the gaming community through challenges and contests, and share development updates. By sharing their company culture and journey, tech startups could build a strong brand identity.

Beauty brands could create a sense of community by sharing skincare tips, makeup tutorials, and engaging in beauty-related discussions. Brands in the wellness space could share tips, challenges, and inspirational content to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Colleges and universities could engage with prospective students, share campus life, and offer information about their programs and scholarships.

Noplace has caught the attention of digital natives in the US. Nevertheless, it's in its infancy and time will tell if it can make a real impact on the social media landscape. At the app level, it has limited data on user behavior and demographics since it's in early growth. Its algorithm is still evolving, and its impact on how content reaches and engages isn't known yet. Tiffany talked about thoughtfully adding more features to the app instead of bloating it. It's a good strategy, but market pressures are real.

The cool thing about Noplace is that it prioritizes community-building over media. It's trying to bring back the social element. It's something Facebook and LinkedIn started with, but then moved away from. LinkedIn has been putting more focus on LinkedIn Groups, but there's still a lot to do.

As I navigated through the app, I was reminded of Tumblr. I think Tumblr is a great platform, but it's on the fringes of social media because of its community focus. Tumblr's support for photo and video content didn't help much with its growth. In contrast, there's Reddit. The success of Reddit lies in its ability to foster communities. Noplace has been developed under advisory from one of Reddit's founders. That might help Noplace get more traction.

We'll have to see how this platform for digital natives grows and what possibilities it creates for brands and marketers.