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Before launching a meta-text-based social network, female-founded social networking startup RTRO launched its app this week with the goal of connecting brands, creators and their fans and followers in a positive environment focused on human connection and community. Not algorithm driven content. To achieve this, RTRO splits the social experience into two – on the one hand, you can connect with friends or family in RTRO “circles”. On the other hand, users can switch to view content from creators and brands on their own.
RTRO has also introduced robust content moderation features that focus on protecting the app from bullying and toxicity and the ability to interact with ChatGPT.
Founded by two tech and marketing veterans, the startup’s social approach aims to bring users back to a simpler time when social networks focused on sharing authentic content and connecting with other people. This nostalgia for earlier days is reflected in the app’s name, “RTRO,” a misspelling of “retro.”
After surveying Gen Z and Millennial users, the team found that people’s top complaints about today’s social media apps are the number of brand ads appearing in users’ feeds and the algorithm-driven experience. But people say they want to use social media to stay in touch with others they care about and to see entertaining content.
Brands have also shared their own frustrations with modern social media, RTRO’s founders explained.
With a background in experiential marketing, co-founders Nicole Falco and Tristan Brennan have worked with hundreds of Fortune 500 and 1000 brands over the years, including TH Experiential, Brennan’s marketing agency. This work includes creating multiple digital products, apps and websites for brands to engage with customers globally. But brands often express confusion and frustration around integrating social into their campaigns.
“TikTok is still a bit of a mystery to them and then [Instagram]”Ever-changing regulations and ever-changing features and algorithms make it challenging for brands to figure out how to get in front of what they need,” Falco said.
These have caused both users and brand founders to think about how to create something better.
“We were looking at social media through the lens of human experience, and how can we make it a little bit better, and also through the lens of technology, what kind of technology can be used?”
The end result is RTRO, where you can switch between your personal communications and branded and creative content, as each has its own niche. On the personal side, there are no brands interrupting the experience – however, they do have a way to get involved. RTRO asks users to post a few times a week – encouraging affirmations, GIFs, or updates about what they’re doing in real life (pronounced #LogOntoLife). Brands can sponsor these quizzes if they choose.
Meanwhile, the other side of the app – aka RTRO TV – is an algorithm-free space where brands and creators can connect with their audience in a chat-style environment. At launch, RTRO has around 50 TikTok and Instagram creators working on the app’s content. Users can respond to their posts, like a thumbs up, but not leave a message or comment. To engage with RTRO TV, users browse various “channels” dedicated to topics such as travel, food, beauty and more. This gives users more control over what feed they see, the company said.
“You can go to that channel and browse the brand and the creator’s content — so you’re in complete control of what you want to see. This is completely new. This type of experience doesn’t exist in an app right now,” Falco touts.
However, the offering is in some ways similar to Tiki Tok’s experimentation with dedicated, seasonal dishes.
Additionally, creators can choose to create a private circle and post it on their channel space. When you’re done, you can turn off the circle. Creators can also block users from posting messages in their circles or remove them if they are hateful or toxic.
Creators say RTRO likes being able to have more personal and casual conversations with followers.
“People who have hundreds of thousands of followers in these channels are finding that they can post one post a day to Instagram—it has a very customized image,” Brennan says. But on the channels, he explained that they can now post multiple times a day. “You can have an informal conversation. It doesn’t have to feel so official [or like] A moment to stand out. It creates something a little more personal,” he continues. “We are finding the same thing with brands. They are not just posting something to promote their products. They’re talking about their inner group or their culture, what they’re doing today… There’s something special about finding something that feels a little official.
RTRO brands include Alastin Skin Care, KISS Nails, Loops Beauty, Halo 42, JOAH and more.
Another feature allows users to interact with ChatGPT through an integration that allows them to ask AI for ideas and inspiration – which could be another test case for how consumers can respond to AI in a social networking setting. So far, that’s been an uproar for Snapchat — users recently called the app’s My AI feature “deplorable” and called for it to be removed.
Other apps have seen better opportunities in integrating AI and social. Ghost’s mobile messaging app features an iMessage extension that allows friends to post anonymously in group chats, and additional functionality that allows users to create mini-apps using ChatGPT. The app moved to the No. 5 spot in the social category in Apple’s iMessage app store.
The team worked with an outsourced firm to get the RTRO app off the ground, but its in-house CTO has previously created a number of consumer digital experiences and mobile apps for large companies like Microsoft, Amazon, iHeartMedia, CLEAR, WeWork and Grailed. . The initiative aims to bring the foreign group forward and the talks are ongoing, he said.
The company hasn’t shared its revenue model plans yet, but plans to release that part of its strategy in the next quarter or so.
RTRO, a team of less than a dozen remote startups, is currently backed solely by angel funding, including investment from both co-founders. No pre-seed or seed money has been raised yet.
RTRO is a free download on the App Store.
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