Seen is a new social app that records live video reactions of people to content they get. Allowing people to be "seen," its aim is to bring more authencity to interactions, especially among friends, giving people more than basic emojis or no reaction at all.
There's a difference between showing or telling someone something in person and getting their reaction to it versus doing it over social media. You're less likely to get the real thing through social media. And sometimes, you really wish you could see how they felt for real. Seen's solution is to essentially record people and have people record themselves as they go through the content they are sent.
In a group chat, the sender [of the content] and mutual friends in the group chat can view the live recording of the reaction, and then the sender has to do the same with a video reaction to their friend's video reaction.
It's not an entirely new concept, but it sure is an interesting way to spice up interactions with authenticity. BeReal [that started in 2022] has a similar concept where users have to share images from their front and back cameras on what they are doing the moment the "time to BeReal" notification shows up—which is at random times, once a day. And for a while, it stated number one in the App Store, which was surprising to bereal.
Seen is only available on the App Store for now, but the company said it has plans to release a version for Android soon, although there's no specific date yet.
Users can send one-on-one iMessages or group chats that have at least eleven people. And Seen also integrated with TikTok to allow people to share videos directly from TikTok with their friends on Seen.
This is a particularly useful integration, considering how big and widely used TikTok is now. People share videos with themselves on TikTok all the time—from their feed and all—so maybe they also want to see how their friends really react.
“Our broad goal is creating a platform that helps people connect with one another that feels very real.” Co-founder Faheem Kajee told TechCrunch. “Sharing video reactions is better than just getting a thumbs-up back. It prompts a broader conversation, and there’s a sense of results from seeing somebody’s reaction.”
It all sounds like a great idea, but I wonder if people really "want to be seen." Although actual reactions are precious, sometimes you're caught off guard by something [or content], and your reaction may not be adequate. When I think of the times I truly find something very funny but only laugh "mentally" and mostly chuckle on the outside, I may be misunderstood—because, quite frankly, I don't want to be seen laughing ridiculously at just my phone.
Speaking of authencity, people knowing that there would be a live recording of their reaction could very much fake it, too, and then pass it on as "authentic." And even if it's actually genuine, would I really want to see that? I mean, it surely wouldn't always be fun, like laughter and silly looks.
Generally, it's a great idea, I think. And it appears a lot of people think so, too, with the influx of thousands of users after its release earlier this month. And integrations with YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels are coming.
There is also more to come in the future, such as a premium that would offer games and filters within the app and user reaction data gathering.
“When you’re scrolling through the feed, there will be some content from users, some content from friends, and some content from advertisers,” Kajee noted, adding that users will have the option to react to an ad, which Seen would then gather “anonymized data on aspects such as the type of emotion, areas where an individual paid attention, and the degree of attentiveness.” The reactions to ads are only accessed by Seen, not other users or the advertiser. Source
This feature now, to me, is great but a bit awkward to imagine. I understand that this would help provide more insights on content feedback, but such data about my face and my reactions doesn't sound like something I want to have collected.
It's the start of something new and unique, and we will see how well the public adopts it with time. Until then, what do you think about it?
Image credit: Seen