When watching a few Reels on Instagram, suddenly 30 minutes have flown by. You even forget the fact that you originally came on to reply to a friend's message. More people are complaining of social media fatigue, saying, "I don't want to see others do well." Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom even declared that the platform, filled with various feeds, has "lost its soul."
Recently visiting Korea, Nathan Sharp, co-founder and CEO of Lone Palm Labs, noted, "Major social media platforms have transformed from a space for communication among friends to a kind of entertainment content consumption space. We want to restore the consolidation between friends."
Sharp and his team are creating a closed-type social media platform called Retro. Retro is a service where users share photos and videos with a few friends. This service, created by just six people, has quietly gained word of mouth, achieving millions of downloads in Asian markets, including Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. As of May this year, Korea is Retro's second fastest-growing market, following Germany.
Interestingly, the founders of Retro were key players in developing Instagram's core feature, "Stories." The Retro they designed goes directly against the expansion formulas of Instagram and Facebook. Sharp said, "Five friends are enough on Retro."
The following is a Q&A with Nathan Sharp.
Social media as a time thief
― Why has social media evolved into a kind of 'entertainment app'?
It's due to the advertising-centered business model. Engaging content increases user retention time, which leads to better advertising effectiveness. That's why Instagram focuses on "Reels (short-form videos)." Ultimately, it ends up wasting people's time.
Now, I no longer post daily photos on Instagram. It has become as out of place as streaming home videos on Netflix. That's the problem—social media was originally created to help friends connect.
― How does Retro solve this problem?
Retro is simply a weekly photo journal. After a day ends, or on the weekend, users share their photos or videos. Retro has no "likes" or friend lists. Comparisons like "Nathan has 50 friends, but Kevin only has 5" can create stress. There's also no recommendation algorithm. Feeds are sorted chronologically, and the amount of content is limited.
― Initially, "likes" were public.
One colleague's wife complained, "Why didn't you like my post?" We decided to make likes private. We wanted to create an environment free from the pressure of likes or follower counts. It's the kind of decision that could shake the foundations of a platform like Facebook or Instagram.
― Does such design actually affect user behavior?
If you receive a lot of likes, dopamine is released, and if you don't receive any, you might be upset enough to delete the post. This "variable reward" motivates people to share more stimulating content.
On Retro, you simply upload photos comfortably. There's no need to think, "The dog picture got more likes than the baby picture." I record how my daughters grow a little each day on Retro. As a parent, observing the subtle changes in my child is never boring. I also store my children's artwork on Retro. I organize company internal records like photos, signing of investment contracts, and product launch moments on Retro.
― Why did you design it on a 'weekly' basis?
I determined that a week is a time frame that is just fast enough to convey news while still feeling comfortably slow. I was strongly inspired by Oliver Burkeman's book "Four Thousand Weeks." According to the book, the average person overestimates the amount of time they have. Even if you live to 80, life only consists of about 4000 weeks. The time we have is shorter and passes more quickly than we think. The only way to slow it down is to create "time experiences" slowly. By valuing each week, you gain a sense of expanded time.
He showcased the 'This Weekend' feature on his Retro app. Photos shared in '2024 This Weekend' and '2023 This Weekend' were displayed. In '2022 This Weekend,' there was a photo taken when he left Instagram. He said, "This feature demonstrates the time philosophy Retro seeks to embody."
― Silicon Valley's famous investor Josh Kushner is one of Retro's main investors. (Josh Kushner, an early investor in Instagram, found great success. He is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.)
Kevin Weil, who was my boss during Instagram, is the first investor. Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, and Dylan Field, the CEO of Figma, participated in the seed round. They resonated with the zeitgeist of needing a new social media for "real friends." Josh Kushner rarely shares pictures of his children on other platforms but does so on Retro.
In the AI era, human choice will shine even brighter
― What is the most challenging aspect of launching a new social app?
In fact, generating word of mouth once or twice isn't difficult. It can be achieved with spending money or through luck. The real challenge is retention. Getting people to voluntarily return to the app is the most important and difficult task. Retro's retention rate is higher than most other social apps. Users feel comfortable even with a small group of 3-4 friends. The problem is that if there are no friends at the first login, they perceive the app as unfamiliar. We are currently brainstorming ways to overcome this naturally.
― Isn't the market size for closed-type social media rather small?
I'm not concerned about the market size itself. Everyone has a few friends they want to keep updated. Our goal is to make 1 billion people closer to their real friends. To achieve that, we need to create a truly excellent product.
― The speed of advancements in artificial intelligence is frightening. How do you utilize it?
AI is effective in quickly deriving answers. However, sharing photos taken by friends is a different issue. The reason the photos on Retro are meaningful is that they are chosen by friends, not machines. Suggested photos on Google or Apple Photos can feel off, right? While AI can be used for auxiliary functions like album organization, we plan to stick to human curation for the core function of photo selection.
A strange sense of camaraderie was formed during a two-hour conversation with Sharp. When the reporter remarked, "More sensational fake news spreads faster than well-crafted articles," he replied, "The challenges of Retro and journalism are inherently the same. We're competing with what's easier and addictive."
He stated, "Advertising doesn't align with Retro's philosophy," and that they are preparing a paid subscription model costing around $3 (approximately 4154 won) per month.
I had long been searching for a digital diary. After using Retro throughout May, I found it worked well both as a diary app and as a social space to share with a small group of friends.