Hood - Anonymous social sharing

Hood is a modern pseudonymous social networking platform that grants users the ability to share their genuine stories while concealing their true identities, promoting free expression.

On Hood, individuals can voice their thoughts under a pseudonymous username. The application seeks to create a safe space for anonymous communication, encouraging users to speak their truths without fear, challenge preconceived notions, and uncover real experiences. It empowers people to share authentic narratives with the community.

How it operates:

1) Download the app and provide basic information about yourself (without revealing your name).

2) Opt to share your contacts and location so you can see what your friends are sharing.

3) Discover your friends' anonymous updates and engage with them.

4) Join interest-based groups for more interaction.

5) Share your truth anonymously.

It’s as straightforward as that!

P.S: Your privacy and safety remain our utmost priority.

App features

👉 Feed – View anonymous posts from friends, trending topics, and relevant content in your feed.

👉 Groups – Form public or private groups where you can exchange opinions with others.

👉 Whistle: Stay updated on company reviews, ratings, hiring trends, layoffs, and more.

👉 AMA: Engage in Ask Me Anything sessions featuring experts and notable figures from various professions.

What can you do on Hood?

There's something for every user.

👉 Want to ask something on social media but feel apprehensive? Use pseudonymity on Hood to ask freely.

👉 Anonymous Stories: Connect over shared interests, likes, and hobbies through anonymous storytelling.

👉 Suppressed Emotions: Unveil your true self on the app and meet others who share similar experiences.

👉 Professionals: Discuss the challenges and injustices you encounter in your workplace without fear of repercussion.

👉 Students: Express your thoughts about what you love or dislike about your institution.

👉 Experiences: We accommodate all types of experiences, including love, hate, bullying, trauma, childhood tales, and more.

Wear a mask and express yourself without hesitation!

Become part of a candid, unfiltered community.

NEWS

1.Social network platform Hood launches new tools for content creators

The addition of the three new features will enable users with tools to enhance their reach, encourage interaction on the platform, the company says

Pseudonymous social network, Hood, has launched three features, Creator Score, Boost Post and Weekly Creators to provide creators with opportunities to showcase their talent, engage with their audience, and enrich the overall community experience.

As per the company, Creator Score offers a unique scoring system that rewards users for their engagement and activity on the platform. With each interaction, creators receive a distinct creator score, empowering them to track their progress. In addition, an exclusive Boost Post option for creators enables creators to amplify the visibility of their posts for a specific duration, increasing the reach of their content.

2.Pseudonymous social network Zorro rebrands as Hood ahead of US expansion

Pseudonymous social network Zorro announced on July 1 that it is rebranding as Hood ahead of its expansion into the United States.

Founded by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana (known as Gabbbar Singh on social media), and Deepak Kumar earlier this year, Hood allows users to share, confess and discuss various topics freely using a pseudonym on the platform.

Singh had previously told Moneycontrol that one of the huge challenges with social media platforms is that when the networks are open, people take it as an opportunity to bully others behind anonymous handles, giving anonymity a bad name.

"Like all great ideas, Zorro too grew into a higher purpose, building a community who speaks freely and fearlessly. It was imperative for our brand name to reflect this higher purpose. A shift from individual expressions to community conversations and open discussions. And it is this sense of community that gave rise to its new identity, Hood" Singh said.

Unmasking Zorro: A social media app that lets you don a mask but slashes away at rowdy mischief

The pseudonymous social media platform is all set to launch next month. It was founded by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana (known as Gabbbar Singh on social media), and Deepak Kumar, and has already raised over $3.2 million in funding.

 Swathi Moorthy & Sanghamitra Kar

Remember company confession pages on social media platforms? People flocking to these pages used to enlighten us about their insufferable managers, unfriendly HR policies or that colleague who doesn't pull his/her weight. To spice things up, there were also posts seeking advice on marital troubles, which you might not always be able to ask of your colleagues. Those pages sometimes also doubled up as a counselling and recommendation platform, on everything from jobs to doctors.

Now imagine a scenario where you know for sure that the managers and colleagues you wanted to give feedback to are looped into the same network, and you can share what you wanted under the cloak of anonymity?

Meet Zorro, the pseudonymous social media platform, founded by Jasveer Singh, Abhishek Asthana (known as Gabbbar Singh on social media), and Deepak Kumar, which is all set to launch next month.

Though the idea itself isn't original, for anonymity isn’t a novel concept, it has garnered investor interest even before the launch. The firm is currently testing a platform with over 1,000 users, to get it ready for launch.

It has already raised $3.2 million from a clutch of angel investors including Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CRED’s Kunal Shah, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal, and BharatPe's Ashneer Grover. Venture capital firms that co-led the round include 3one4 Capital and 9Unicorn Ventures, with Roots Ventures and Venture Catalyst joining in.

Moneycontrol spoke to the founders, investors and industry experts to understand how Zorro works, what is attracting investors to the platform and, more importantly, what are the challenges of running an anonymous platform when social media is riddled with moderation troubles.

What is Zorro?

If the name reminds you of the masked hero Zorro, a fictional character created in 1919 by Johnston McCulley, you would be spot on. The fictional character is a vigilante who wears a mask (for anonymity) to protect the downtrodden against corrupt officials.

According to its CEO Jasveer Singh, just like the masked hero, the platform Zorro is aimed at giving people a space to express themselves, without the fear of being attacked publicly on social media.

What does this mean? Singh said that one of the huge challenges with social media platforms is that when the networks are open, people take it as an opportunity to bully others behind anonymous handles, giving anonymity a bad name.

Over the last decade, many platforms surfaced to address the issue of anonymous networks, but failed. For instance, anonymous apps such as Secret and Sarahah, which were popular when they launched 6-7 years ago, eventually shut down after bullying and malicious lies about people became rampant and harder to control.

Singh said that that is when they realised that opening a network to everyone was a problem in anonymous networks, since people consider that as a licence to bad behaviour.

So Zorro, he said, is not completely anonymous. Instead you interact with people in your contacts, using a pseudonymous name.

Is Zorro a Reddit, or Quora for India?

Singh shared that while there is nobody playing in the space they are in, and every social media platform is competition, they are more like Twitter that is pseudonymous. This is evident from the multiple Twitter references Singh made during the course of the conversation with Moneycontrol.

“If you go to Reddit, it is mostly forum-based. You cannot go to Reddit at the frequency of Twitter, where you go check your feed every few minutes. Reddit has a different format, which is long form, and similar to Quora,” he explains.

Singh said he wants to build Zorro more like a Twitter timeline, where users come back again and again to the platform at a high frequency. This would mean having trending topics, where people would discuss the latest events and sports.

How does it work?

Just like any social media platform, the app will be accessible on web, and smartphones, both iOS and Android and sign-up will be via your mobile number/email. But instead of giving your own name, you select a pseudonym. While signing up, you also have the option to connect to your Twitter profile as well.

However, the company is still contemplating whether the network should be open to all, or invitation-based and open up to users in phases, like how Clubhouse did.

Coming to the timeline, it would change from person to person, based on their contact list, and Twitter followers, if the user had given access. For instance, if you are following 200 people on Twitter, of which only 100 are on Zorro, you will be able to see content only for those 100 people and others from your contact list.