Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become a lifeline for millennials and Generation Z since they are stuck at home and separated from friends. In fact, Generation Z is the first generation (1995 to 2010) to grow up with the internet/social media as a part of their lives.
But in their attempts to liberate themselves from loneliness, people fall into another trap. Multiple studies have shown a link between social media and feeling more lonely, depressed, and anxious, including about one’s life or appearance, fear of missing out, among others.
Generation Z, which is more than 2 billion people worldwide, most often suffers from the adverse effects of social platforms and is searching for a more honest communication method.
The Latvian startup F3 is one such platform. Targeted at Generation Z, F3 is a social app to make new friends and communicate with existing ones through “raw and real” Q&A communication.
Raised €3.3M
Recently, the Riga-based startup raised $3.9M (approx €3.3M) in seed funding from the Mamba dating network (with its investor Mail.ru Group) and Adfirst VC firm. Other angel investors including Alex Hofmann (former musical.ly President) and Marat Kichikov (GP at Bitfury Capital) also participated in the round.
25 million users
Since its inception in 2018, F3 has attracted over 25 million users, with tens of thousands of new members joining the community every day. The team behind F3 previously founded Ask.fm, a global Q&A based social network with 150+ million users later acquired by IAC. With this new app, F3 satisfies the current young generation’s needs — 85% of the audience is below 25.
F3 enables visually appealing and entertaining communication, while anonymity encourages more honest, in-depth, and personal contact, claims the company.
Safety measures
Also, the team guarantees user safety, implementing various tools and policies, including automatic content moderation, explicit photo, and video detection, profanity text filters, anonymity settings and controls, reporting and blocking mechanisms, and more.
Getting started
If you want to get started with F3, you should share your link with friends, letting them send you photos, videos and questions only you can see, and then express yourself by replying with photos and videos. Users can take part in a BFF GAME and meet new people nearby and from all over the world.
“We see that our users create unique social circles of friends they’ve met only on F3, which reaffirms our conviction that Generation Z requires a different type of social network — one where they can socialise and make new friends just like in real life, where they form new communities and talk to each other in the same place where they post or consume content,” says Ilja Terebins, F3 CEO and co-founder.
Main image credits: F3