Apps don’t come much more simple than this: Flyr is an event invite creator for iOS that lets you slap a couple of captions atop an animated GIF so you can fire off a zeitgeisty birthday/drinks/pool party invite to your buddies on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook et al. with minimal effort.
Just key in the key info, e.g. the event name, date and location, and then add a GIF of your choice to jazz things up via the embedded GIF search feature — et voila: you get an animated flyer to spread all over your social feeds (or email, iMessage, etc).
The app was built by 18-year-olds Nicholas Parasram and Daniel Hanover, who have another event-focused app under their belt (called Eventible). But super simple customizable GIFs would seem to be an easier sell to mobile users than a full social event sharing network — the latter being a space that has claimed a few startup scalps over the years — so it’s because of this “wider opportunity” they’re now focusing their efforts on Flyr.
“We’re aiming to utilize the excitement factor of GIF’s (the creative language of our generation), the mashup of rich media and the power of mobile messaging to help amplify the boring ‘event creation process’ and make a fun Flyr,” says Parasram.
“Event creation tools in the market focus on heavy data entry, where Flyr focuses on memorable invites using shared interests amongst friends. You can create Flyrs for parties, weddings, vacations, beach hangouts, and any occasion in under a minute.”
“The market is currently full of web-first platforms such as Evite, Splash, Paperless Post and more which don’t appeal to the current mobile world we live in,” he adds.
If there’s one thing Generation GIF loves more than GIFs it’s not being bored. Which explains their love of agitated pixels, for starters. And so an app that can rustle up a passable invite with less effort than it takes to buy a flat white is surely going to win youthful friends and influence millennials. Just add your own Cat Fun Times.
Flyr is a free download so future monetization options the pair are kicking around include branded Flyrs (tied to tracking popular keywords searches), and/or offering premium content such as stickers or additional media or features that can be added to Flyrs for a fee. They’re also looking at promotion options for parties, says Parasram.
If there’s one more thing to say here it’s that messaging apps are of course fully fledged social platforms in their own right these days. So tools that let users expand on the socializing they are already doing via the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are addressing an engaged user-base from the get go.
Flyr hasn’t got that many direct social share options for messaging apps at this nascent stage but Parasram confirms they are looking to expand on that asap. “We’re working on that as we speak — we just wanted to launch with the basic share platforms initially,” he tells TechCrunch. “We are heavily focused on the messaging apps as opposed to social networks because invites are private and for a select group of people.”