Offering something positive: An interview with Playsee, the community-focused social media app

Social media is in a bit of a strange place. Elon Musk’s spontaneous rebrand of Twitter as ‘X’ has confused many and alienated those who considered the blue bird a symbol - if a somewhat flighty one - of expression and freedom. Meta, on the other hand, is consolidating market control with Facebook and Instagram receiving over 70% of the UK’s share of social media visits in June of this year. And Threads' easily success seems to be faltering. 

Who, then, would want to launch a new social media platform? The answer is Playsee, the community-focused social media site who, interestingly, don’t see themselves in competition with big tech.

I spoke to Veronica Lin, Head of User Experience and Communications at Playsee, about the app and its recent launch in the UK. Playsee first launched in the United States and has since accumulated over 30 million global downloads.

Playsee are a location-focused social media app trying to get people off social media and into their local communities, supporting local independent businesses in the process, and creating a platform built on local knowledge and community-focused content. 

On deciding to not compete with giants

Having already covered the catalyst behind the launch of Playsee, and what it aims to achieve, in a recently published QFQ, I wanted to ask Veronica what it was like to set up a challenger app in a heavily concentrated market. “Every social media platform serves a purpose,” Veronica says. “They serve different human needs. Facebook connects friends and family, TikTok offers entertainment. Playsee is here to offer something new.”

“We’re not here to compete with other social media platforms, we’re here to make social media positive.” 

At its core, then, Playsee wants to take social media back to a nostalgic past, one where online interactions were playful, innocent, and fun. “There are people who say that social media doesn’t represent who they really are, or what life is really like. At Playsee we believe that connecting with people shouldn’t be complicated.” 

Veronica also conveyed Playsee’s aim to make these interactions genuine and real. “Social media sites are talking about authenticity, and influencers are trying to be real; we want our users to be real and to feel comfortable in being authentic.”

Making it easier for people to connect

Playsee, therefore, wants to make it easier for people to connect. “Playsee doesn’t show a user the whole world, instead we’ve narrowed it down to an area, a city. This way we gather people who share a cultural, local language.”

In this sense, Playsee capitalises on the old adage that locals know best. “There is already a sense of similarity or belonging to that place. Locals can then talk, have conversations, share videos and bring their community together in one place. You’re not talking to people, across the globe, that you’ll never connect with.”

Getting users back into the community

At face level, launching a new social media app and getting individuals back into their community seem incongruous. But Veronica sees it differently. “Social media at its core is about building relationships. No other social media platform has the goal of bringing people back to their community.”

“Playsee is a bridge between online and offline.”

“The future of social media is in connecting people, but the question is how do you do that and how do you do it sustainably?"

A different way to interact with new places

Playsee also doesn’t see itself in competition with popular review websites or apps. “On Playsee you’re not looking at reviews from around the world. We have two different mediums: users can upload photos and videos of their experiences, and, secondly, users can discuss subjects in our Community feature.”

This Community chat feature seems to be the main differentiator between Playsee and other social media apps. A clever way of facilitating community-wide discussion and topic-led conversation. “People can form their own groups and talk about things to a greater extent. Like-minded people are able to join and have a conversation and build longer-term relationships.”

“Playsee is a place where community members are able to engage.”

Launching in the UK

Playsee users build their community on the app by posting content about their local area. “The location navigator narrows down to locations with the most content.”

How do they plan on launching Playsee into the UK social media market? “We wanted to start with London because of how different it is, as a city, from town to town. Strategically, it’s a good place to get communities talking about their own characteristics and their own pride.”

The UK is Playsee's latest stop on their Europe-wide expansion, having achieved Top 10 Google Play store rankings for the social networking category in France, Spain, and Italy.

Defining success 

Launching as a competitor in any market that looks unkindly on new entrants in a daunting task. Launching as a competitor in the social media market adds an additional layer of difficulty. How, then, is Playsee going to define the success of their move into the UK?

“The most straightforward is to grow our users,” Veronica responds. “But it is also about growing recognition. We’re in the process of educating people as to how to use Playsee. The success will be when people understand the positive impacts that Playsee can bring.” 

Veronica Lin is the Head of User Experience and Communications at Playsee. Explore Playsee here.