CCNY’s newest, semi-homegrown app is slowly trying to take over CCNY. However in a world where we have several other social media apps that do similar things, you may not be missing out on TAPT-ing in.
BY Jeff Weisinger
Senior Editor
It’s no secret that social media apps just about control our day-to-day lives.Whether it’s checking up on the world on Facebook and Twitter, or finding your friend’s latest #ThrowbackThursday pics on Instagram, or even watching their moves on their latest snap on Snapchat, almost anyone and everyone has dove into this new social media society.TAPT’s motive, in a sense, is to create a more college-focused social media community, where the only members are enrolled students from a specific college – in our case, CCNY students.The app combines all the elements of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram into one, seemingly privatized app. Users can post status updates in the form of text pics, or post photos with captions in a similar way that you would on Snapchat. You can also take short videos, a recently added feature. People can also follow each other, allowing them to private message or tag one another in posts similar to “at-ing” someone on Twitter.That’s the first part of TAPT’s downfall. By using aspects of the four major social media outlets, it becomes unnecessary, let alone, nothing unique or new. With that being said, an app that takes several features from its competitors shouldn’t be as behind in terms of uploading media. There’s no way to resize photos to make them wider or zoom in to them, unlike on Instagram where you can do both. Videos can only be seven seconds, which is shorter than what Snapchat and Instagram offer. And although a slight detail, photo filters aren’t offered.And then there’s the infamous ability to post anonymously, better known as “anons” – a controversial feature.Users are allowed to post their statuses or photos anonymously with masks used as their avatars. There’s no way for the standard user to track who posted something when marked anonymous, although TAPT HQ claims they can determine that information. The anonymous function is easily the worst part of TAPT. It makes TAPT not only an app version of CCNY Secrets, but it opens the door for any kind of hate speech, stalking, and gay bashing (which has already occurred). The feature is creepy, unnecessary and degrading for the app, making it seem amateur instead of progressive.As far as longevity is concerned, the app is only as good as long you’re a student. There’s no value to the app once seniors graduate, thus there should be a fair turnover of users through each academic year. Cool as far as raising the download numbers, not cool if you’re trying to create something that’s alongside the big four social media apps.Despite the issues, this app does have potential to be successful within the CCNY community. However, the anonymous option virtually opens Pandora’s Box and the lack of basic uploading features makes the app seem second-rate compared to where they should be. The lack of longevity after a user leaves CCNY, or college in general, also holds the app back from being the next great thing it’s aiming to become. It is, however, a lot like Facebook, or The Facebook in its early stages . . . and that worked out well in the end.TAPT is off to a good start, but it’s far from a finished, socially recommended product. SCORE: 5.5/10