Lapse in Judgement: The ‘App’ocalyptic decline of a once popular photo-sharing platform

Digital Fame is Fleeting, as Lapse Discovered

Rollercoaster experiences aren’t limited to theme parks, just ask the folks at Lapse. This photo-sharing app that tap-danced its way to App Store fame and glory, boosting its ego with every user download. Alas, poor Lapse is finding out that what goes up, must indeed come down. Sad trombone sounds for Lapse, please.

Peer Pressure Marketing: Innovative or Just Plain Annoying?

You see, Lapse had the innovative (or irritatingly brilliant, depending on your perspective) idea to force users to invite their friends in order to gain access. Yes, it’s like those high school parties you weren’t invited to unless you brought a six-pack or a transistor radio. This strategy seemed to work at first – everyone loves a good chainmail effect after all. Yet, peer pressure has a shelf life and it seems it might have expired for Lapse.

The Contagion Spreads

Lapse’s playbook isn’t collecting dust though. New social app, ID by Amo is playing copycat, replicating Lapse’s invite-or-die scheme. Whether they will succeed or share the fate of Lapse is a cliffhanger worthy of a low-budget drama series. Hold on to your popcorn buckets!

Hot Take

Here’s a juicy nugget of wisdom: If the idea of chaining someone to an app feels like a ‘next-gen’ sales pitch – take a pause, it might be a Lapse in judgement! Remember folks, an app’s popularity might rocket to the moon faster than you can say “Blockchain”, but the downward spiral can be just as quick, or quicker. So be careful with your marketing shenanigans. After all, no one likes to be forced to join your app party just to keep from being left in the digital dark!

Original article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/27/lapse-a-photo-app-that-forced-users-to-invite-friends-is-running-out-of-steam/