It is a rare cold and stormy morning here in Southern California, unusual as we have been in a drought and thanks to the power of the Internet, I am sitting across from Ayman Hariri, the founder and CEO of VERO: True Social. Mr. Hariri greets me with a warm smile; he is dressed casually in a dark blue collared shirt and is seated in a lightly colored office. Its walls are adorned with grey display shelves filled with figures and statutes of the mythic heroes of comics and film.
“First off, awesome shelves, awesome ” he says to me, referring to the shelves behind me filled with Funko Pops and other representations of my love of comics and film. “Look at mine, here we ” he says, spinning his webcam to give me a better look at his collection. The screen is full of amazing and highly detailed figures and statues, including a magnificent Batman with a flowing, black leather cape which Hariri says, “Is the best Batman statue I have seen in my entire life,” I have to concur.
Mr. Hariri is legendary in the world of comics and Superheroes having amassed the world’s foremost collection of comic books. This includes the finest quality edition of Action Comics #1 which marks the first appearance of Superman. And, he’s on a first name basis with blockbuster movie Director Zack Snyder. However, this is not the main reason I am speaking with him this morning. Ayman Hariri is also the founder and creator of VERO: True Social, an incredible social media application. For those who may not know, VERO exploded onto the tech scene last year–however it was released before that–offering a social experience for its users free of data collection and algorithms. The app shot to the number one spot in both the App Store and Google Play market, garnering over 4 million downloads in a matter of months.
VERO Founder and CEO Ayman Hariri (Photo Credit:
Clay Enos)
Many claimed that VERO (which means truth and something that is authentic) would go the way of Mastodon, Peach and many other social networks; however, it has been 12 months since VERO went mainstream and it shows few signs of abating. I first downloaded VERO before it entered the public consensus back when it was a smaller app. I enrolled mainly because Director Zack Snyder (I am a big fan) had joined and announced that VERO would be his main outlet for social communication. However, as I became more and more involved in VERO, I soon discovered just how special and amazing this app truly was.
With the major splash that VERO has made, I am speaking to Ayman to get his view on the success of the platform and to find out just what makes VERO tick. I leaned back and asked Ayman in his opinion, why had VERO succeeded when other networks like Ello, Mastodon, and MeWe had failed, especially given these networks all had good things about them. He replied, “Where we`ve come from is with a real world view of social, not an online view, when you look at centuries of history the real social network has always existed.” He likens it to a vast railway network; no matter how good and comfortable the train cars are, without the network one cannot travel or go anywhere.
People have always communicated, and before online relationships an individual had to figure out if someone was a good fit for them, find out if they shared common ground and had the same passions. Ayman desired and indeed wants to continue taking this real-world social view, and put it online and inside VERO. He said “We feel like we have this enormous source of knowledge and experience and huge amounts of nuance that you can learn from the real world and put online.”
The topic of turbulence briefly comes up in regard to social media, one only has to look at the news to see the latest in social media scandals, information being sold to the highest bidder and trust being broken. “Real world social has never gone through the turbulence that we are seeing so quickly today in online social.” He says that it was, “The thought pattern for VERO to go to nature, the answers are in the real world not our screens or in the code.” Indeed, this is a revolutionary idea. When social media was being dreamt up, people sought to answer the questions of the real world by creating a virtual one; when in reality, the answers were here all along, in the real world, with our daily interactions.
My own personal experience with VERO has been a positive one. I have met people from all over the world and have found we are very similar in many ways, our passions and interests drive us together. VERO really is a community, people look out for each other and unlike most social media, trolls are almost nonexistent, this is refreshing to say the least. I mention all this to Ayman and comment on how incredible this is for a social network and he replies, “We want Vero to be a force for good, Vero means truth. I would like Vero to continue to be a trusted place, a trusted alternative to everything that’s out there, with a clear relationship between its users.” With clear passion in his voice Ayman continues, “If they can trust Vero by its behavior and we can grow that, it will mean success, and it will mean that people feel they have an alternative that has their back.”
VERO exploded onto the scene in early 2018 and with its meteoric rise, it promised a user experience with no algorithm and no data mining. Sadly, in today’s world it is not uncommon for social media to make promises that are broken, however, Ayman Hariri takes the meaning of VERO seriously and the trust that was placed in his app. True to his promise, VERO has no ads or data mining and has become creative in involving brands to come aboard, “If we were going to build a social network and not use ads, we knew brands would want to be involved, we wanted to give them a direction and an outlet to behave in a way that is consistent with the brand.”
VERO has also worked closely in collaboration with artists and creatives to bring content to the platform, he states “We were the first to do that and we are doing that successfully, I haven’t met one artist who hasn’t wanted to come back and do more with us.” Sure enough, as one scrolls through the app it is filled with musicians, artists, actors, writers and journalists all expressing themselves in a safe environment. When asked why people keep coming to VERO and why creatives enjoy the platform, Ayman says some very powerful words, “We treat everyone from the users to the partners with respect.” Indeed, I can truly say having interviewed many people in my profession, my experience working with VERO and Ayman for this article has been one of the best.
Ayman’s passion for VERO and its philosophy is contagious, and speaking with him about his passion leads me to talk a bit about the app itself. For anyone who uses VERO, you will already know what a gorgeous app it is; it is a proprietary blend of simplicity mixed with style. As we talk about its design Ayman says, “It’s been amazing beyond words to see people’s reactions to the things we are making and why we’re making them and how we’re making them and presenting them.”
I ask Ayman what is his favorite part of the app, what does he love personally about it, and what his favorite element is. He mentions his love of film and how he would be a movie-a-night guy if he could find enough time to do so. Being a massive film buff myself, I chuckle and say I have found a kindred spirit; we laugh and talk about the #20MovieChallenge we had both participated in on VERO. He goes on to say that they use the highest quality images for VERO, stating “The image is dictating what the app looks like, versus the app being overly present.”
He mentions how much he loves VERO’s Collections, a feature that takes posts from the people you follow, and catalogs it for you to view by date. “We always wanted to build collections,” he says and talks about how humans want to accumulate knowledge and jot everything down because we can’t remember it all. He explains how VERO builds up and saves this knowledge so you can access it at a later date. With a smile, he says, “It’s an I know Kung-Fu moment” referring refereeing to the Matrix film, and its hero Neo. He goes on to say, “So when I follow somebody who’s a guru in places or in movies, or in music; I just have to follow them, and then all of that knowledge gets sucked into my folder, and I know it’s a Kung Fu moment!”
As the interview winds to a close, I ask Ayman a fun question. Who would he cast as the new Batman now that Ben Affleck has departed the role? He thinks for a moment and says he really does not have anyone in mind, but states Ben Affleck was the best Batman he had ever seen. He then jokingly says, “I would love to play that role, or maybe I already do play that role in real life.”
When you think about it, it’s funny how life can imitate art (or does art imitate life?) In many ways there are a lot of similarities between Ayman Hariri and Bruce Wayne. Both are men who are extremely successful in business with vast resources, and both saw a need in the world they lived in and wanted to make a difference by making the world a better place. Ayman may not be wearing a cowl and cape and punching criminals by night, but he has created a safe place that brings people together, that promotes diversity and care for one another.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time talking with Ayman, he is a cool guy who has a unique and wonderful vision for the digital world. If you have not checked out VERO I highly recommend it; it’s an experience unlike any other social media platform, and I can assure you, you will not be disappointed. A perfect way to end this article is with a quote from its founder regarding what VERO is all about, “Putting people before profit.” That alone is reason enough to give the app a chance.
