Most of the various deals made by Google make a significant success. Widely used, the company has already nailed it with its choices and has already made many lives better just because of the internet. But when it comes to social media, the company really can't get it right.
Not to take the merit of Google, Orkut was the social network that worked the most for the company so far, because since then there is no one that has beaten Facebook and Instagram. And it wasn't for lack of trying, like Buzz, Google Wave and Google+.
But now, without even trying to make it big, the company may have achieved something quite promising. It was while developing a copy of Instagram in order to demonstrate to developers how Firebase is a solution for enhancing, integrating and managing data in the cloud that the app reached a large number of users who started using it.
If you don't know what Firebase is, it's Google's mobile and web app development platform, which aims to offer services such as: hosting, synchronization, push notifications and crash reports.
The app can be found available for download from the App Store starting with version 10.3. The app is called Friendly Pix and it seems to be quite functional. To login and create a profile, it is allowed to do with Facebook or Google account. At the beginning there is a tab where the images of the profiles that the user follows will appear, and the content of all users is displayed in the feed. It is also allowed to like, comment and report content.
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According to 9TO5Google, people are likely to have come across the iOS app that was uploaded to the App Store last week. As the app is not available for Android, users can get to know Friendly Pix through the web app, which is just as complete as the one for iOS.
Initially, the company had no intention of taking this project forward, because the application would only serve to prove the power that Firebase has. So much so that users are notified not to upload personal and sensitive information in a disclaimer in the web app: "This is an example app intended to showcase the Firebase platform features. Please refrain from posting personal or private data."
While Friendly Pix is fun, simple, and mostly chronological, it wasn't intended for actual use as a social network, but as an initiative that creates experimental social apps.
- Web version
- IOS version
