Every once in a while something new comes out of the blue, buzzing with fresh life and unfounded promise, whilst typically coming off of the back of a viral campaign, press promotion or some form of similar genesis. Last week, we saw the emergence of a GIF friendly, iOS only, magic word instilled social network from the founder of popular video sharing app Vine, titled Peach. But is this new social network application as juicy as it sounds?
How Does It Work?
The application is currently exclusively available for free on the Apple iOS | iTunes App Store, although it will no doubt make its way over to Google’s Android platform in the near future due to popular demand (if it is indeed going to be popular). The app’s developers kindly left this short description on the App store, giving us a small insight into what it does:
'Share tiny updates as you go through your day. Posting is as easy as texting—with a twist. Some words are 'Magic Words' that give you quick access to fun and insightful things to share.
On Peach, a little says a lot. Easily share pictures, looping photos, videos, and links, along with GIFs, the weather, your current location, what you're watching tonight, how many steps you walked today, and much more.'
CNET’s Sarah Mitroff reports that “It's like if Facebook and Tumblr had a baby.” Think about the kind of typical post you see on Facebook – a picture of a morning cuppa, a friend checking in at a nearby restaurant etc. Peach pretty much emulates this same approach with the limitation that you cannot follow your favourite celebrities. Instead, you have to be friends with someone to view their personal posts. So Peach does indeed offer its end user something different: a truly enclosed social network, with the addition of an interactive flavouring.
These interactive ‘magic words’ that the developers cite are indeed a quirky little feature, the brands unique selling point even. Magic words are similar to prompt commands, type in a word like ‘TV' for example and you will then be able to tag your favourite show from a respondent list; type ‘here’ and the app will then geo-location tag you at your current destination (a system akin to Facebook’s check-in feature). These quick access commands make the concept of micro blogging and status sharing all that more entertaining and accessible, but is it just another tech fad, waiting to rot away in decay…
Will It Remain Fresh?
Peach currently has the tech world in a spin, with major news and media outlets having already reported on the application extensively. But this explosive flurry of news articles, blogs and video coverage will soon die out, leaving Peach to face the ultimate challenge – trying to survive in the ever-developing online world, a world that is flooded with trends and fads that die out as quickly as they are created…
The Guardian's Alex Hern also highlights that “Peach is entirely contained within the app” itself – with “no way to view posts publicly.” This could prove troublesome, even worrying for a social application that is looking to extend its shelf life as far as possible. If posts cannot be embedded or shared via alternate networks and blogs, then the application may soon become redundant with its semi-permanent approach, forcing users to hit its hard stone centre once the initial, delicate flesh is consumed.
So, the question is: will Peach survive, evolving into the next challenger to the Facebook Empire? Or will it fall upon the ever-growing piles of dead apps and social sites like MySpace, Meerkat, and the many others that were unable to create a sense of longevity and purpose within their product offering.
Only time will tell, but for now, Peach is still the freshest fruit to savour on the iOS application market.
Brandjack News 
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