A report I read this morning from TechCrunch’s Tage Kene-Okafor talks about a new travel app startup called Backdrop. This development is a photo-sharing app that combines tech, social media and travel to let users streamline and accentuate travel search, sharing, and utility. The founders say the point of pain is “There’s currently no go-to app dedicated to finding pretty places.” Okay, I’m intrigued.
According to the various news about Backdrop, three friends, Timilehin Ajiboye, Damilola Odufuwa and Odunayo Eweniyi collaborated to start what some analysts say will be a travel search and sharing game changer. The tech media lingo is long and boring. What we are talking about here is a social platform that condenses, collates, and filters user travel magic to make it more relevant. And, in the end, more useful, and more fun.
TechCrunch and the other media go on and on about the long tail of Backdrop development, things like scaling globally, blah, blah, blah. There’s a bunch of buzz terms like millennials and GenZs thrown in by the Backdrop folks, which shows me there’s a marketing person back there somewhere. But there’s no beta test? TechCrunch was build by Michael Arrington on the strength of breaking tech, testing what was coming up, etc. This is a press release.
Well, excuse me for being too conventional, but a good idea with a website and a user conversion page in place is not exactly Bezos and Shatner rocketing into space aboard a penis shaped starship. Sorry, I rememember being an alpha and beta tester alongside Arrington and the others, and I remember how hard media outreach to TC and others was when I was a PR exec.
If I had not worked a decade to build relationships, or presented stunning innovation, TC, Mashable, RWW, Rafe Needleman, nor any of the others would have published. Has tech gotten that thin? Okay, let me see. In fairness, Tage Kene-Okafor does say TC “talked to” some beta users, so I guess that’s the 2021 version of knowing.
I can sign up to get early access to Backdrop. Opp! I could if I had an iPhone. Welp. Okay, what about iOS reviews of the app? There’s 6 already. Here’s one from user ZainabZFA a few days after TC posted:
Perfect travel companion
I’m so glad I won’t have to scour through Instagram to find places to go out to eat/ hang out. This app is exactly what I need!
Wow! Exactly what someone needs. Interestingly, Backdrop is also following 6 people on TikTok. Probably a coincidence.
So, forced to regurgitate what Backdrop and everybody else is saying, showing, and publicizing, I guess my imagery will be from the startup’s blog as well. It’s just strange that a TC tech startup reporter from Nigeria was missed in the Beta testing mailout from the founders of this company aiming to be the “go to” travel companion of the youthful generation.
I will say this, the developers have hit on a huge point of pain here. Google search has become an advertisement soup. Instagram is a hashtag nightmare already. TikTok seems like Twitter on some kind of new psychedelic drug, context is lost totally. I remember when the search engine wars were about natural language or semantic search relevance, etc. Relevance in travel is bound to the sinking anchor of muddled community. If the Backdrop team can sharpen the focus, create something truly useful for people, they’ll be rich beyond their wildest dreams. I cannot say more, given that whoever is beta testing this TC publicized marvel does not seem to be able to type.
Somebody lend me an iPhone.