Facebook Buys Weeks-Old App For Teens to be Nice to Each Other

Business | October 17, 2017, Tuesday // 14:56|  views

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An app that encourages teens to be nice to each other has been acquired by Facebook for an undisclosed fee.

The app - called tbh, meaning "to be honest" - is just nine weeks old, but had already been downloaded five million times.

The app's creators said it will remain a standalone program but will now have more resources thanks to Facebook.

"We were compelled by the ways they could help us realise tbh’s vision and bring it to more people," tbh said.

According to start-up news site TechCrunch, the deal was for "less than $100m", and tbh's four person team would become Facebook employees.

One expert commented that Facebook keeps a close eye over new companies and is willing to pay a premium to buy them rather than risk them developing into a threat.

"This is the latest example of Facebook snapping up a start-up that could potentially game-change the way people consume social media and erode its own user base," commented Prof Mark Skilton from Warwick Business School.

"Tbh appeals to the teen market - which we know is a very fickle age group - and Facebook knows that it and other apps like it can go viral and explode in popularity very quickly.

"So, this can be seen as a protective measure, and $100m is the equivalent of an account sheet rounding error - it's no money to them."


Source: BBC

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Tags: Facebook, app, teenagers

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