Social apps are primed for innovation as users spurn toxic sites

A growing distaste for the toxicity of mass social media sites is powering a rise in new types of social interactions, such as Cleats Club a social app for super fans.

James Kirkham is the chief business officer at Cleats Club, a new direct to fan messaging app, which aims to address the growing toxicity in social media.

Australia’s age restrictions on social media platforms will help drive a surge of innovation to create positive online environments, according to the British digital pioneer behind a groundbreaking new app.

James Kirkham, founder of one of the first digital agencies in the UK, Holler, which was the first agency in the world to market a TV show using social media, predicts moves like the government’s age restriction legislation for social media will supercharge the emergance of new types of social applications .

“What’s happening in Australia is all about choice. I am certain other countries will follow suit and it will force the hand of innovation,” said Mr Kirkham.

“People want to choose how they spend their time online and choose whether to go into a space that is cluttered and noisy and there’s a risk of trolls or aggression, or they can choose to go somewhere else.”

Mr Kirkham is part of an emerging wave of creators building that “something else”. He is the chief business officer at Cleats Club, a new direct-to-fan messaging app that aims to address the growing toxicity in social media.

Cleats Club works by enabling super fans to connect with their heroes, who will post intimate content, such as photos, audio notes and short video, much like you would see in a chat group with friends. The app has been created with England football team captain Harry Kane; however, more players will come on board in the coming months.

The app offers several features to avoid the problems with existing social sites. Members can download the app only using their Apple ID or Google ID, so there is no ability to be anonymous.

Members can message only their hero and will see only the messages other fans send when their hero responds to it, reducing the scope for toxic behaviours or trolling. If members still choose to send negative comments, a layer of AI tech is embedded to weed out any content before the players can see it.

There is also no algorithm to feed you specific content and members can scroll through all the content they wish to view.

The aim of Cleats Club is to create a positive, authentic space for fans to engage with their football heroes and is a response to changing attitudes to social media and the way younger generations want to engage in digital spaces.

Cleats Club is a direct-to-fan messaging app that aims to address the growing toxicity in social media.

Mr Kirkham predicts the type of direct one-to-one contact that Cleats Club enables will become increasingly popular with the likelihood of similar apps launching for athletes, musicians, artists and celebrities.

“I think the notion that there’s any disintermediation between you and your favourite star will feel antiquated within about 18 months. I think it will feel archaic and comical that we would go into a space with so much noise and clutter, where there’s potential for trolling, abuse, aggro or anything like that, and be at arm’s length from your favourite talent, I think will feel bizarre.”

He says growing awareness of the negative elements of social media, particularly for young people, is driving a shift away from mass social media platforms.

He cites experts such as Scott Galloway who liken social media to smoking, and the growing interest in conversations around age banning following Australia’s moves as as examples – and he expects to see more.

“It’s nonsensical for this generation (Gen Z) to not have that feeling of choice. It’s also a growing awareness of time, your time and how you spend it, and if you are choosing to pursue and follow someone that you love, what you don’t need is everything else in the way.

“I think this generation understand that notion of completely owned choice. That autonomy is absolute, and paradoxically, what’s going on in Australia, is actually still about choice.

“We are at a point where we can see this global town square, mass social platform thing maybe hasn’t worked and I suspect there will be a time in the next 12 months where we will willfully flock from them and we’ll see more people choose other options. That might be micro communities like Cleats Club, or something broader than that, but I suspect we’re going to spend more time and look for those places that are safe environments and quite pure, and we’ve got almost a direct line to someone we care about or love, who is our hero or heroine.”

“People will consciously choose to spend time with a hero for that period of time, where I’m unencumbered by toxicity or aggravation or trolling or any of that clutter, or I’m gonna choose to go outside or do whatever I want, and I’ve chosen to do it.”

“We are not saying social media is over or dead. We would never be so naive, because all of our athletes and players, be it Harry or those who come on board, are still using it and still leveraging it. But it really is about choice.”

Mr Kirkham believes the power of Cleats Club comes from its audience of highly engaged members, however, the app is not targeting mass audiences. Harry Kane currently has 10,000 super fans engaging with him on the app, which is a fraction of his followers across social media, however, there is no ambition to push this to millions.

“It’s not about mass audiences. We think super fans is a big new space, but we don’t care about having 10 million followers. Now, maybe it’ll get to two or three times that but we don’t think it’ll be about the millions, because this is the people who want to engage. They’re spending about five minutes on the app and the retention rate is over 60 per cent, so it dwarfs comparable social platforms, but this time is spent in a more healthy way. I’ve been saying it’s additive rather than addictive. We want you to spend your time there meaningfully and then go about your daily life.”

This highly-engaged audience is already attracting brands that are keen to align with the England football captain, however Cleats Club has stringent requirements for advertising within the app. Brand content must be additive to the environment and not disrupt or interrupt the experience.

“Brands need to unlearn those classic social rules, this isn’t about having 10 million followers, it’s not a classic media buy in that respect. It’s an opportunity to create a native integration into a messaging environment with proximity to tier one talent, and highly engaged fans.”