Fans may not be able to walk a mile in a celebrity’s shoes, but they can now browse their favorite celebrity’s Instagram feed by downloading a smartphone app. Called Being, the free iOS app allows users to view Instagram from the perspective of another user.
Created by New York-based startup Pressto, Inc., Being is the follow up to the 2014 app called Mashfeed. The goal of the app is to help users make better connections on social media.
“A passion of mine over the past 5 years, since I began my app development company Pressto, Inc., has been to create products that help simplify social media,” said Adam Mashaal, the founder of Pressto, Inc., to iDigitalTimes. “The goal is to help social media users better connect with each other and discover great content without necessarily asking them to create additional content on yet another social media site. Working on our previous app Mashfeed, we discovered that every single social media user is a curator, even though we may not have realized it just yet.”
“Up until now, users have been experiencing a very personalized version of social media based on who they are friends with or who they've chosen to follow,” added Mashaal. “We realized that, in many ways, who you follow on social media says more about you than what you actually post. Who someone follows provides a very unique look at their tastes and interests that isn't necessarily represented in what they're posting.”
This realization led Mashaal to create a way for users to experience social media through the perspective of someone else.
“By letting users see social media through someone else's eyes, we think that Being unlocks a whole new layer of discovery and connection,” said Mashaal. “Instagram felt like an obvious place to start given the amazingly creative and visual nature of its community, with people following relatively fewer users on the platform that appear to genuinely represent some aspect of who they are.”
Being offers several features, including viewing the feeds of your favorite Instagrammers, discovering new content by browsing popular feeds based on topics and categories, and explore trending posts. Users do not need an Instagram account in order to use the app and there is a social component that allows users to share what they’re viewing.
“Upon selecting a user whose feed you want to view, we look at the list of Instagram users they follow, provided by Instagram's publicly available APIs,” said Mashaal. “We then compile all of posts by those users, less anything marked as private on Instagram, into a master feed to mimic what Instagram would look like when that user scrolls through their Instagram homescreen. What you get, we've found, is a rare, unfiltered glimpse of that user's tastes and interests through the guise of an Instagram feed.”
“The most amazing part is how different and unique each user's feed is,” adds Mashaal. “Viewing Instagram from a user's perspective, especially when viewing that of a celebrity or influencer, really helps you see the "human" behind some of these larger-than-life personalities. All privacy settings from Instagram are respected within Being. You will never see private content on Being that you don't otherwise have access to on Instagram.”
As for privacy, users will not have access to private user feeds. The same privacy features as Instagram are upheld on Being.
In addition to providing a celebrity-curated newsfeed, Being can provide insight into celebrity preferences and profiles. For example, Mashaal points out in a Medium post that Lady Gaga is into muscle cars and Donald Trump only follows “Trump-related companies.”
“Being unlocks a whole new layer of discovery and connection by giving users a glimpse of what social media looks like through someone else's eyes,” says Mashaal. “We think anyone looking for a way to enhance their primary Instagram experience while discovering quality content to add to their Instagram feed should give Being a try. Being can really help you connect with your friends and favorite celebrities in a whole new way.”
