After School (app)

Last updated
After School
TypeAnonymous social network
DiscontinuedYes, service is offline
Discontinued 1.99.94 (iOS) / February 18, 2019
Operating system(s) Android, iOS

After School [1] was a proprietary iOS and Android, social network mobile application that allows users in a defined network, aimed at high schools, to share anonymous text-based posts and images with others. [2] As of July 2016, After School had users at more than 20,000 American high schools. [3]

Contents

According to CEO Michael Callahan, the app was created as a network “that teens could use to express themselves, to reach out to others and to ask for and offer help to fellow teens in distress.” [4]

The app, created by Michael Callahan and Cory Levy of ONE, Inc., debuted in mid-November 2014. In the re-release of the app in April 2015, [5] After School implemented “mature content” filters, age verification, 24/7 live anonymous support, and FIRST (Fastest Internet Response System for Threats). [6] In February 2016, After School announced raising a $16.4 million Series A round. [4] The app also detects threatening or harmful messages using "language algorithms" [7] and "enforces a single-report immediate user removal for violations." [8]

While the service has not been formally discontinued, the website is offline and the applications are no longer available for download in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store as of 2020. It is now part of the Utah operation of Ancestry.com.

Criticism

The service has received criticism for enabling cyberbullying due to its anonymous nature and intended audience, as well as not being accessible by parents or teachers. [9]

Cofounders & acquisition

Core team
Michael CallahanRomain Declé-NancyCory Levy

The company's staff was acquired by Ancestry.com LLC in 2021. [10] Ancestry.com

Related Research Articles

Kik Messenger, commonly called Kik, is a freeware instant messaging mobile app from the Canadian company Kik Interactive, available on iOS and Android operating systems.

Since the arrival of early social networking sites in the early 2000s, online social networking platforms have expanded exponentially, with the biggest names in social media in the mid-2010s being Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The massive influx of personal information that has become available online and stored in the cloud has put user privacy at the forefront of discussion regarding the database's ability to safely store such personal information. The extent to which users and social media platform administrators can access user profiles has become a new topic of ethical consideration, and the legality, awareness, and boundaries of subsequent privacy violations are critical concerns in advance of the technological age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skout</span> Social networking website

SKOUT is the developer of a location-based social networking and dating application and website. SKOUT was one of the first dating and mobile people discovery applications to emphasize generalized user location. SKOUT is available on both iOS and Android operating systems. Other SKOUT properties include Nixter, a nightlife app, and Fuse, an ephemeral group messaging app. SKOUT reported that over 500 million connections were made using its app in 2013.

Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to the communication technology advancements and young people's increased use of such technologies. Cyberbullying is when someone, typically a teenager, bullies or harasses others on the internet and other digital spaces, particularly on social media sites.

Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover", letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to store photos in a password-protected area called "my eyes only". It has also reportedly incorporated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to broaden its use in the future.

ASKfm is a Latvian question and answer network launched in June 2010 as a competitor to Formspring. After registration, the user fills out their profile and can ask questions, reply on their profile, create photo polls. Also from 2021, app users can communicate anonymously or openly in public chats or tête-à-tête in private chats. The platform had 300 million registered users as of November 2021.

Spring.me was a social networking service. Until a rebranding in 2013, it was known as Formspring, a question-and-answer-based social network launched in 2009 by Ade Olonoh, the founder of online form builder Formstack.

Whisper is a proprietary Android mobile app available without charge. It is a form of anonymous social media, allowing users to post and share photo and video messages anonymously, although this claim has been challenged with privacy concerns over Whisper's handling of user data. The postings, called "whispers", consist of text superimposed over an image, and the background imagery is either automatically retrieved from Whisper's search engine or uploaded by the user. The app, launched in March 2012, is the main product of the media company WhisperText LLC, which was co-founded by CEO Michael Heyward, the son of the entertainment executive Andy Heyward, and Brad Brooks, who is the CEO of mobile messaging service TigerText. Since 2015, the service has sought to become more of a brand advertising platform, with promotional partnerships with Netflix, NBCUniversal, Disney, HBO, and MTV. According to TechCrunch, as of March 2017, Whisper has a total of 17 billion monthly pageviews on its mobile and desktop websites, social channels and publisher network, with 250 million monthly users across 187 countries. It is owned by MediaLab. In October 2022, Whisper was removed from the Apple App Store, but has since returned.

Pheed was a mobile pay-per-view technology and social networking service founded by O.D. Kobo, Tony DeNiro, and Phil Haus. In March 2014, 18 months from launch, a subsidiary of América Móvil acquired the service for $40 million in cash and stock.

Secret was an iOS and Android app service that allowed people to share messages anonymously within their circle of friends, friends of friends, and publicly. It differs from other anonymous sharing apps such as PostSecret, Whisper, and Yik Yak in that it was intended for sharing primarily with friends, potentially making it more interesting and addictive for people reading the updates. It was founded by David Byttow, the former lead for Square Wallet, and Chrys Bader-Wechseler, a former Google product manager at Google+, Photovine and YouTube. Bader-Wechseler left the company in January 2015, with the stated reason that the company's shift away from beautiful design and towards more minimalistic design meant that he felt he was no longer the best person to be at the helm of the company. Byttow announced the shutdown of the app and the company on April 29, 2015.

Anonymous social media is a subcategory of social media wherein the main social function is to share and interact around content and information anonymously on mobile and web-based platforms. Another key aspect of anonymous social media is that content or information posted is not connected with particular online identities or profiles.

Yik Yak is a pseudonymous social media smartphone application that initially launched in 2013 and relaunched in 2021. The app, which is available for iOS and (formerly) Android, allows college students to create and view discussion threads within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius. It is similar to other anonymous sharing apps such as Nearby, but differs from others such as Whisper in that it is intended for sharing primarily with those in proximity to the user.

Talkspace is an online and mobile therapy company based in New York City. It was founded by Oren and Roni Frank in 2012. Talkspace users have access to licensed therapists through the website or mobile app on iOS and Android. Talkspace has made questionable claims about its effectiveness, compromised user privacy, posted fake reviews to improve its rating in an app store, and uses freelance therapists of uncertain qualifications.

Cory Levy is the founder of FirstText.com and ZFellows.com. Z Fellows is a fellowship that offers you $10,000 to stop what you're doing for a week to work on a side project alongside mentors ranging from the Founder of Tinder to Netflix. He formerly co-founded and was the COO of ONE, Inc., creators of the After School App, an anonymous social network for high school students. He is also the founder of Internapalooza, a one-day tech conference for Silicon Valley interns.

Ogle is a free smartphone based social media application. It is available for iOS and Android. Ogle acts like a school wide forum that lets users and users' classmates share and interact. Users can share photos, videos, questions, even thoughts and watch submissions grow in popularity as other users vote and comment on them.

Oswald Labs is a Dutch-Indian based accessibility technology company that builds products for individuals with disabilities. It specializes in enterprise web accessibility, offers smartphone apps, and also runs a startup accelerator. It was established in 2016 by Anand Chowdhary, Nishant Gadihoke and Mahendra Raghuwanshi after their product, Oswald Extension, won an event at the AngelHack hackathon in New Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Pasternak</span> Australian technology entrepreneur (born 1999)

Benjamin Pasternak is an Australian technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of SIMULATE, an American food technology company, that has raised US$57M in investment to date. SIMULATE's signature product, NUGGS, launched in July 2019. It is a plant-based alternative to chicken nuggets. Previously, Pasternak founded Monkey, a social networking app that enabled teenagers to video chat with like-minded people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarahah</span> Former Saudi Arabian social networking service

Sarahah is a Saudi Arabian social networking service for providing constructive feedback. In Arabic, sarahah means "frankness" or "honesty". It was created by Zain-Alabdin Tawfiq at the end of 2016 and reached a sudden worldwide success by mid-2017. This growth is considered to be deeply related with the release of a Snapchat update that allowed people to share URLs on their snaps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Sayman</span> Latin American internet entrepreneur

Michael Arthur Sayman, is a Peruvian–Bolivian–American mobile application entrepreneur, software engineer, political activist, and author. He is best known for creating top-charting apps as a teenager to provide for his family during the Great Recession, as well as his subsequent work at Facebook. Described by Semana as "the most influential Latino in Silicon Valley", in 2019, Sayman was included on Forbes's 30 Under 30 list, and has additionally been featured at TED.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas (app)</span> Anonymous Social Media App oriented towards adolescents

Gas, formerly known as Melt as well as Crush, is an American anonymous social media app. Launched in August 2022, the app is oriented towards high schoolers. The app was developed by Nikita Bier, Isaiah Turner, and former Facebook engineer Dave Schatz.

References

  1. "AfterSchool". afterschoolapp.com. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
  2. Wagner, Kurt. "Who Is Behind After School, the Anonymous App Taking Over American High Schools?". recode.com. re/code. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  3. "Crisis Text Line Brings Help to Troubled Teens Where They Live — Their Phones". 12 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  4. 1 2 journalist, Larry Magid Technology (2016-02-03). "After School App Designed to Promote Kindness Say Founders | Huffington Post". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  5. Larson, Selena (7 April 2015). "After School attempts a comeback with bans on bullying". Dailydot.com. The Daily Dot. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. "First". AfterSchoolApp.com. After School. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  7. Thadani, Trisha (2018-01-29). "Anonymous app for teens tries to keep bullying at bay". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. Polarchy, Michael (2018-02-28). "After School app raises concerns of bullying, inappropriate activity". Fox 8.
  9. "I-Team: After School App-What You Need to Know". YouTube: FOX 5 Atlanta.
  10. https://corylevy.com/