Prisma Launches Social Feed: Can Style Transfer Build a Platform?
Prisma, the app that popularized style transfer to apply art-esque filters to photos and videos after launching this summer, is finally attempting to turn itself into more than just a cool tool. In a big update being released today for its iOS and Android apps, it’s adding its own social stream with a focus on location-based sharing.
The startup previously mentioned a social feature was in the works after losing access to the Facebook Live API, shutting down its livestreaming broadcast feature on Facebook’s platform. Now, Prisma is hoping to build its own walled garden. The Feed, as they call the new social feature, allows users to share stylized photos with other Prisma users.
The location-based twist organizes shared photos by proximity, showcasing nearby imagery by default. However, the strength of location as a pure social connector is questionable. It remains to be seen whether a social feed of stylized photos can compete with existing platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter.
Prisma has been testing the new social Feed in several countries with 15,000 users, claiming positive feedback. However, the app faces a significant challenge in establishing its art effects as a fully-fledged social platform rather than a tool for enhancing other popular platforms.
The app’s original appeal stemmed from its simplicity, but now it’s sacrificing some of that simplicity by requiring users to register to be part of its community. Prisma originally gained traction this summer when its eye-catching effects captured the attention of millions of Instagram users.
While piggybacking on other social platforms helped Prisma achieve 70 million downloads and 2 million daily active users, it also led to copycats, including Facebook, which launched its own style transfer features. Prisma is caught between a rock and a hard place; sticking to its core feature risks redundancy, but becoming a social platform in a crowded market is a difficult task.
Prisma is attempting to build a community of Prisma sharers quickly by incorporating viral rewards. Content shared to the Feed can be liked by others, and more likes increase the photo’s visibility. Popularity also carries over, meaning more likes on a shared picture result in more impressions for the user’s next share. This encourages sharing.
Shared content can also be viewed via an interactive map within the Prisma app, allowing users to browse content near landmarks. However, in the test version, the map only shows the origin of likes, and the ability to browse shared content across the map is yet to come.
The test version of the app also suffers from bugs, with many Prisma filters failing to display or work properly. This is concerning since the app’s core USP is its fast stylizing capabilities.
The biggest challenge for Prisma’s social gambit is the lack of incentive to share within the app. Location seems like a weak bond for encouraging users to invest in building a community of followers. Additionally, the fact that everyone shares imagery with the same set of filters undermines the visual appeal of Prisma imagery, making it seem pointless to share within the app compared to other platforms where Prisma’s effects might stand out more.
