About

Hive Social is a social media app created by Kassandra Pop, aka Raluca. Though created in 2019, the app grew popular in 2022 as a potential Twitter alternative after the November 2022 Rumored Twitter Shutdown. The site shares many features with Twitter, such as short text posts written in chronological order, but incorporates elements from other social media platforms, such as an Instagram-like media pages and the ability to add music to a profile a la Myspace.

History

According to the app,^[1] Hive Social began as a coding project by developer Raluca in June of 2019. The app launched in October of that year. The site reported hitting 300,000 users by February 2021 and reaching over 600,000 users since. As of November 2022, the app is run by two people.

Features

Hive has been described by Forbes^[2] as "a mix of Instagram and Twitter with a sprinkling of Tumblr for good measure." As of November 2022, posts appear in chronological order and there are no ads. There is also an edit button. Developers promise that controversial figures such as Donald Trump and Andrew Tate are forever banned from the platform. There is a "For You" page, similar to Tumblr, that recommends content based on topics one checks they are interested in upon signing up. Like Twitter, Hive users can repost both image and text posts. Its simplicity of use was praised in comparison to some other potential Twitter alternatives like Mastodon.

Forbes identified some issues with Hive that could be challenging if the app wants to contest with Twitter. For example, Hive currently lacks the threading capabilities of Twitter. It also lacks a desktop site. Furthermore, multiple users can sign up for the same username. This was highlighted by Forbes showing a screenshot of multiple users with the username "@john."

Online Presence

Hive began growing popular in early 2021. In February, the app was covered by Teen Vogue^[3] and hit #1 in the iOS app store. However, it began to be viewed more seriously as an alternative to Twitter following Elon Musk's takeover of the Twitter. The app began trending on Twitter in mid-November of 2022, as many users began exploring it and praising its functionality.

On November 18th, Twitter user @qtdkyeom^[4] posted about discovering Hive, reporting that it "functions like Twitter," gaining over 44,000 retweets and 128,000 likes in three days (shown below).

This appears to have been the impetus for many discovering and signing up for Hive. Users enthusiastically praised various aspects upon checking it out, while acknowledging there remained some technical limitations with the app due to it being run by a two-person team. For example, Twitter user @atheenabean^[5] praised the app and how it functioned similarly to Twitter in a thread that gained over 480 retweets and 2,400 likes in one day (shown below, left). User @Ohheydj^[6] posted a similar thread, gaining 16 retweets and 120 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References