Facebook has bought anonymous polling app tbh, a social app aimed at teenagers that encourages them to be nice to each other through complimentary votes.
The app, which is currently only available in some US states, is still in its infancy but claims to have had more than five million downloads and been used to send more than a billion messages in its first few weeks of existence.
The purchase by Facebook appears to follow the company’s current mission to become more popular among millenials – an aim reinforced by recent surveys where teenagers identified Snapchat as their preferred social media platform.
The tbh app is built around the idea of telling your friends what you like about them and vice versa through anonymous polls among your friends.
If you win a poll, the app rewards you with gems, before replying to a poll and giving friends the chance to reveal they voted for you.
In a statement on its website confirming the acquisition, the tbh team said: “When we set out to build tbh, we wanted to create a community that made us feel happier and more confident about ourselves.
“We felt that people craved genuine and positive interactions in their online experiences.
“While the last decade of the Internet has been focused on open communication, the next milestone will be around meeting people’s emotional needs.
“Today we’re announcing that we’re joining Facebook to continue our mission.”
Further details of the deal have not been made public, though TechCrunch has reported the purchase was for less than $100 million, and that tbh’s four-person team would become Facebook employees.
The ongoing rivalry between Facebook and Snapchat dates back as far as 2013, when Facebook tried to buy the newly launched photo messaging service for $3 billion.
Since then, Facebook has expanded its own services, as well as those among its family of apps – including WhatsApp and Instagram – to feature a range of Snapchat-like features such as Stories and photo filters.
