Meet the startup that aims to bring authenticity back to social media

Human beings are social creatures. In fact, the relationships that people have with each other are an important contributor to mental and physical well-being.

This innate need to meet and get to know others is the foundation upon which the social media industry has been built on, and it’s a strong one. Half the world’s population are on one platform or another daily, and according to We Are Social and Hootsuite’s Digital 2020 report, roughly half of the 3.7 hours that people spend on their mobile phones each day is dedicated to social and communications apps.

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The sector has even spawned its own sub-industry: influencer marketing. Built on the ideals of authenticity and relatability, social media personalities gained popularity as a more accessible alternative form of celebrity compared to movie and television stars. In fact, industry insights indicate that brands are set to spend up to US$15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022.

A return to realness?

Social media platforms have helped content creators reach wider audiences, establish a following, and solve the issue of distribution. However, these platforms are primarily motivated by ad spending. Over 90% of Facebook’s revenue, for instance, comes from advertising, no doubt buoyed by Instagram, which it owns. As such, authenticity and deep engagement have become lower priorities when it comes to designing for user experience.

“As fans, paid posts are not exactly why we choose to follow certain creators on social media,” says Belle Lim, co-founder of League of Nova, a Singapore-based startup that’s aiming to reinvent how audiences connect with social media personalities. Lim and her co-founder, Harris Tan, started work on the platform in 2019, and it has just launched this month. “With each sponsored post, creators tend to lose some of the trust that they have established with their audience, affecting their engagement and growth,” she says.

However, the pendulum may be swinging back toward authenticity. The emergence and sudden rise of new audio-only platform Clubhouse, where users can listen to someone speak about any given topic with no professional editing or advertising, seems to indicate that there is indeed demand for a more genuine social media experience.

League of Nova, with its own emerging social media platform, is also trying to nurture this return to the segment’s roots. “Our platform is one that allows creators to connect with their fans directly,” explains Lim. “[Personalities] can create and curate content centered around their passions without the element of ads and grow an audience while doing so.”

The platform has gained some initial traction, with over 200 creators signing up – 65 of which are shortlisted for the launch.

A peek at the platform / Photo credit: League of Nova

League of Nova allows personalities to create a portfolio and post content, much like in typical social media fashion. It also enables these personalities to create meetings and engage with their followers directly.

After a personality creates a meeting, fans can start submitting requests. Once a request is accepted, users can contact each other via the platform’s built-in chat and call tools. Through these meetings, personalities can earn fan contributions in the form of rubies – a virtual currency inherent to the platform – which can later be converted into cash.

Focusing on safety and accountability

With the rise in common social media issues such as cyberbullying, bots, and fraudulent profiles, League of Nova is establishing several features and processes to ensure a safe experience for its users.

These include location tracking tools, interviews with personalities before they are allowed on the platform, content moderation, and proprietary algorithms that prevent banned users from circumventing any rules by creating new accounts.

If a personality or fan feels uncomfortable during a meeting, they are also encouraged to leave, says Lim. Any disputes will be investigated by the firm’s customer support team, and refunds will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

“Personalities will also have the option of banning a fan,” Lim explains. “It adds a red flag to the fan’s profile which is visible to other personalities.”

What’s in the future?

As the platform grows and the company gains a deeper understanding of its users’ behavior, League of Nova will look to improve existing features and introduce new ones.

“Something that we have in our pipeline is a feature that facilitates group meetings,” Lim explains. “We are also looking to introduce more personalized content or recommendations of personalities to follow.”

In order to support this continued development and its plans to scale, the firm is prioritizing the growth of its team, particularly in the operations side. The first key short-term business goal is to put in place a solid foundation in Singapore – it is looking to bring at least 500 personalities onto the platform, as well as 15,000 daily active users, within the next 12 months.

The choice of Singapore as a first market also has strategic value. “In the long term, our start in the Singapore market – a sophisticated and tech-savvy one – will serve as an important blueprint for us to scale into different markets in the region,” Lim says.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the safe-distancing measures that it has imposed on communities around the world has heightened the consumption of digital media and content, including social media. This increased appetite also applies to authenticity, as personalities and fans are brought closer together through the shared experience of living under new constraints.

League of Nova thinks that this may be indicative of a larger trend in social media in the future. “We expect new social platforms to emerge with a shift toward more direct and meaningful engagement,” says Lim. “Our goal is to empower the next generation of social media personalities and to grow alongside them in the long run.”

League of Nova is a new platform that allows social media personalities to connect with their fans in a direct and engaging way.

Learn more about it on its website.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.