shcked was built, observing the climate of modern social media, as a salvation for believers in the simpler side of life, encouraging merely text and image based expression and information consumption.
Basically, that's it! It's a brand new, go-to source for 'stripped-down' social media without the baggage attached to other contemporary services nor the frustrations that come from using them.
Also, we intend to keep shcked lightweight and trustworthy, while taking user privacy seriously and tackling user addiction to avoid becoming another social media cliché.
Right, so you're taking on might of Meta and Musk?
Honestly - no. Just, no. We've set our sights on realistic goals and we know what we want to achieve. shcked was literally built by two guys part time, and is simply a reflection of our personal biases surrounding the state and trajectory of popular social networking sites and how we would want to consume information using them.
Tell me about the cool things I can do then.
We have some really cool features that come as standard with a shcked account - some will be familiar and some could be brand new to you.
Post with text and images: The bread and butter of our platform - create posts with up to 500 characters and attach an image. Simple!
#Hashtags: Attach up to 3 hashtags to each post. Why only 3? To avoid hashtag spamming and abuse. We will probably increase that amount in the future, but for now, 3 will suffice!
Albums: Create up to 4 albums which are essentially folders for your posts, to organise your profile and create content-specific spaces. As a follower, you can mute individual albums of someone you follow and those posts will no longer show up in your feed.
This is a benefit to both the profile owner and the follower. Scenario: Mike wants to follow Simon for his nature posts, but doesn't care much about gaming. So Simon can pop his nature posts into one album and his gaming posts into another, and Mike can mute the gaming one. This ensures Simon doesn't alienate Mike with his unrelatable gaming posts and keeps his interest piqued with the nature album. Neat!
Messaging: Private message anybody. We don't currently have means of handling who can message you, but hey, that's what the block function is for, if @Eugene565 is sending you too many weird messages about the tragic state of the postal service.
Strikes: A 'Strike' is a short, snappy and temporary update, separate from your permanent posts living on your profile feed, that will expire after 24 hours or when writing a new one. Yes, future development will include the ability to add a photo as well as posting more than one Strike in a 24 hour period.
Friends system: Not as bog-standard as it seems, our Friends system is essentially a means of upgrading certain users beyond the Follower status.
When you set a user to be a Friend (by going to their profile), they will be given exclusive access to posts that you mark as 'Friends Only', doable by checking a checkbox found on the posting page. As it sounds, only users with the Friends status will be able to see that post - standard followers of your account will not be able to see it. This provides the author with the ability to write more personal, intimate or sensitive posts that may not be appropriate for their wider audience.
What does shcked not have?
We know that, with some social media sites, there is a certain level of expectation with regards to features and functionality based on contemporary services. It's important to remember that shcked was built to disrupt the status quo in that sense and offer a stripped-down, simpler means of accomplishing the same goal - to share information. Here is what we do not offer/have, nor have plans to offer in future:
- Reels / Videos: this is what Instagram, TikTok, etc, are for. We don't need another.
- Extensive photo manipulation: we offer cropping and filters, but that's really it.
- Excessive machine learning: we recommend some topics, hashtags and users to follow via the Explore page, but avoid the use of excessive machine learning algorithms to 'push' content on users.
Why? What is your 'ethos'?
From the get-go, our aim was to create something that would stear away from the direction that the major players in social media were going in, but carried the core values of social networking on its shoulders.
Simon (speaking for himself) doesn't necessarily dislike reels or videos as such, but isn't a fan of how they've become the stylish and normalised means for absorbing information via social media. Brainrot, anyone?
Elsewhere, we firmly believe in tackling social media addiction by avoiding tricks of the trade to keep users hooked and, in fact, will be looking to implement measures to manage excessive use in the future.
Additionally, we take privacy and user data seriously, and Mike is a firm believer in handling user data properly. Those major players have been known to mishandle and abuse user data and, while it is (sadly) not a big concern for your average, casual user, we intend to be responsible with only the necessary data needed to maintain site functionality for the user.
Is there an app?
Yup! It was built using web technologies intended for use on the web, but the site has been programmed to be accepted and treated as an app on Android smartphones. The initial installation needs to be done via the Google Chrome browser.
Just follow these steps:
- Open Google Chrome on your Android phone.
- Type in the URL: shcked.com/alpha
- Once loaded, you should get a prompt at the top asking if you want to 'install' shcked. Do this.
- If you don't get a prompt, tap the 3-dot browser menu top-right > select 'Add to Home Screen' > select Install. Don't select the shortcut option, it's not as good.
- Proceed as normal and you'll get the shcked app.
In future, the app will be installable via the Play Store as with any Android app.
What other features are to come?
You're using an alpha build with what you could call the 'basic' functions of a social media site. We are looking forward to expanding the capabilities of our lovely site later down the line, such as:
- Multiple pictures in a single post: probably 3 or 4.
- Multiple Strikes, not just one that gets replaced by the next.
- Post stats and analytics: views, clicks, etc.
- Location data on posts.
- Allow image attachments in Messages.
- Create temporary posts.
- A dark mode UI option.
- User addiction tacklers.
- Streamline existing features: make editing comments easier, allow 'quick posting' to speed things up, improve the UI in some cases, etc.
- Furthermore, overhaul the design if you find it, like, annoying or awkward.
- Lots of boring stuff about account login, creation and management.
Is that everything?
Think so! There are some things on our Help Page that may provide answers to questions and guides on features. Otherwise, literally just make a post and tag Simon or Mike and we'll totally help you out.
Wait, I want to report a bug!
Splendid - just make a post to report it using the hashtag #bug / #bugs / #fixyourshittywebsite / etc and we'll find it!