Teens go bananas over new social media app – Monkey!

Social Know How.

When you think about social media, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Facebook right? Well according to two new social geniuses, that is not such a common thought with today’s teenagers.

Isaiah Turner, 17, and Ben Pasternak, 18, have created the next step in the ever growing social media landscape with their new iOS app, Monkey. Described as “Omegle except for making new friends” on the App Store, the platform will see random users connected for a set period of time. If the pair wants to stay in touch once the time is up, they can add more time to carry on the conversation. As well as extra time, users are able to mutually add their new friends to social powerhouse Snapchat.

The idea came after Isaiah and Ben found out that not all teenagers are big fans of Facebook and wanted to give them something to replace it. The duo says the app is a way to meet new people from around the world rather than school mates or your neighbours.

Speaking to Mashable, Pasternak said; “The way I look at it is Snapchat’s for your real-life friends and Monkey is for your internet friends. With internet friends, you can be whoever you want to be, and I think Monkey is really pushing that.”

In just five weeks, the app has reached around 215,000 users and as of Jan. 23 is sat at 62 in the top free apps in the App Store.

While the thought of a new social channel being compared to Omegle and Chatroulette might put people off, Pasternak has claimed that Monkey is so far a clean and safe community. Just to be on the safe side, the pair has a public Snapchat account that enables users to directly address any issues they may have stumbled on.

What are your thoughts on the new step for social media? Have Turner and Pasternak hit a gold mine or will this join the likes of Meerkat in the social scrapheap? Whatever your thoughts, we’d love to hear them.  Tweet us – @DATSPR, or come find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DownattheSocial