Plag is an interesting app that allows users to spread information in an infections manner. Share something to the Plag network and those around you that are also using Plag will see your post. They can chose to either share it or ignore it. Sharing it will increase the post’s strength for reaching a wider audience.
The developer says, “Plag works like a virus”, but in a good way. When a user close to you shares something it has the potential to spread further when shared by others close in physical location. Take a look a the video below describing how Plag spreads info.
This type of social network is different from others as it seems everyone has a fair shot at having posts spread to a large scale of users. To help keep the network this way you don’t get to follow your favorite information spreader and others can’t follow you.
Each post lives for 7 days before it is retired and you can track how many were infected (or reached) by the content.
Sharing
Sharing on Plag is very easy, simply tap the plus sign at the bottom and jot down your thoughts. You can add photos, links to external sites (like HTCSource.com) or even a few options to survey users. Each submission is referred to as a card and cards can have multiple pages viewed by sliding right and left. You can embed GIF’s or even YouTube videos that play within Plag.
Viewing
Viewing the news feed is simple, but it differs from traditional social networks that you typically scroll up to see older posts or status updates. To see the next card you have two options:
- Swipe up to spread to others
- Swipe down to skip or resist the epidemic
This can be a little unfamiliar at first. I found myself spreading cards that I didn’t mean to simply, because I was so used to swiping up like I do in other social apps.
Apparently, there was an uprising of improper photos shared on Plag, but it seems that in a recent update a filter has been created to thin out the unnecessary cards.
Your stats
Cards live for about 7 seven days and each time a user spreads your content Plag adds a number to your card. For instance, a card I created the other day was a poll to see which OEM people had in their hands. I asked the question below and provided 5 options also displayed below.
Which smartphone do you use?
- HTC
- Apple
- Samsung
- Motorola
- LG
This card infected 10 people around the US as you can see in the third image above, but only 4 people submitted an answer.
I shared a new card today about the HTC Vive and quickly infected two people. The card had three pages; the first page had a link to an article on HTCSource.com, the second was a poll to see who tried HTC Vive already, and the third page was another link to an article on HTCSource.com. So I’ve been able to use this dynamic social network to draw some readers to the website.
Plag does have a unique way of tuning users into information, but occasionally I see cards that have been shared just because the user didn’t have anything better to share. An example would be a poll the read, “Which do you prefer?” and the options were 1. Day or 2. Night. There’s not a lot of value in a card like this, but going back to Plag’s core of everyone has a chance to have cards spread makes this okay.
I would like to see more creative cards that inspire others or have more of a purpose, but I guess that’s where the infected come into play. The more people infected by a creative card the further it will reach.
What do you think about Plag? Will you give it a try? If so, try sharing this article to see how far many it infects.
