PRESS INFORMATION – 18th May 2015 Zero-‐Trollerance New micro-‐vlogging app takes on Trolls A Social, not Anti-‐Social Network! (…and it’s British!) Avanatta (‘ave a natter’) has today launched its video messaging and micro-‐vlogging app (iOS only) designed to take on the trolls and tackle anti-‐social behaviour (Android version will be released in June 2015). Avanatta’s research suggests that as many as 10,000 people are subject to abusive or hateful messages on Twitter every day and little seems to be done about it. Other social networks are struggling to deal with it too. Trolling and anti-‐social behaviour has become a modern age anti-‐social pandemic affecting millions of users worldwide. Avanatta bans anti-‐social behaviour. It has developed a unique suite of social responsibility tools that allow users to interact in a safe, rewarding and motivating environment. Users add micro-‐videos (nattas) to those already created by their friends. They message or curate collectively using powerful in-‐app editing tools that create fun and interesting videos that just grow and grow. Avanatta’s back-‐office software called NEWS (Natta Early Warning System) profiles behaviour and automatically suspends or bans users if their content breaches the app’s social policy guidelines. Anti-‐social behavioural patterns can lead to a User being warned or even blacklisted preventing them from interacting with others and notably celebrities who are given a suite of privacy settings that can automatically block trolls before they have even started. The Company will introduce a live-‐filtering 18.05.15 system for nudity in July with similar safeguarding systems scheduled for the rest of the year. Georgina Pursey, co-‐founder of Avanatta says “Hardly a day goes by without someone and especially a celebrity being trolled and leaving a social network. Yet the big guys simply don’t seem to care. They hide behind freedom of speech. The right to offend has got in the way of common decency and respect. It’s driving users and their content underground and killing the fun and point of social networks. We have been working on this project for nearly two years during which we were convinced the big guys would sort this problem out. But they haven’t. We want users to have fun on Avanatta. Co-‐creation of videos requires everyone involved to play nice and why wouldn’t you? Our in-‐app editing suite lets you embed videos inside videos. You can also embed photos and talk over them putting otherwise static images into context. You can do tons more and we love it but we simply don’t want it ruined by the few who think it is OK to be anti-‐social. If that’s what they want then they should stay on Twitter.” Avanatta isn’t just about catching the bad guys. It’s about rewarding the good guys too. All users share in the advertising revenue generated on the app. The Company pays in nattaCoins, the app’s currency which allows users to tip and reward each other. From August onwards users will be able to spend their nattaCoins on social gifting, digital downloads and e-‐vouchers. Imagine receiving a voucher for a cup of coffee from your favourite celebrity! Celebrities have already started to join the app which is free from the App Store on iTunes right now. Lee Ryan from Blue left Twitter because of the hatred and abuse he was getting. He feels safe on Avanatta and free to express himself. Ryan says “ I love Avanatta. I can get close to my fans without fear of being abused. I know the bad guys will still try and get to me but at least I know Avanatta has policies and systems 18.05.15 that will help me. They will listen to me”. Ian Botham, Rita Simons, and Simon Webbe have all been trolled on other networks and have joined Avanatta to escape from the trolls. END Notes: avanatta is a British company, the brainchild of the Pursey family, Richard Pursey, Sharon and their daughter Georgina (25) and son Jack (23). The idea grew out of conversations in Spring 2013, which started with Georgina and Jack’s disillusionment with existing social networks. “We’re big users of social media, like most of our generation,” says Georgina, “but we felt what was out there just wasn’t fun any more. We wanted to be ourselves without fear of abuse. We wanted to interact with our friends using video and also be rewarded for loading great content and simply having fun.” The original idea then grew into what could make social media ‘cool’ again – and micro-‐videos was the obvious answer. So Georgina and Jack talked over their ideas with their Dad Richard, a proven businessman, who backed their ideas and put together an experienced senior management team to build the business. And avanatta was born! “It’s been an amazing 22 months working from just an idea into what we believe is going to change the face of social networking,” says Jack. “We’ve had fantastic fun refining it and can’t wait to get the world to avanatta!” 18.05.15 The details natta – start a conversation (we call it a nattaReel) with a 60 second recording which you can preview and edit before uploading. You can limit who can see it or reply to it or you can open it up to everyone on the nattaSphere. You can even restrict the nattaReel to just your own content, ideal for story-‐telling. All replies are 15 seconds or less (you choose when to stop your recording). nattaReel – the collection of nattas that are recorded to make an entire conversation or film that can be watched over and over again. nattaCoin/nattaBank – nattaCoins are earned by being an active social networker. They are stored in your own nattaBank. nattaGift – a social gift you can attach to a natta and send to your friends. nattaFeed – the pages where Nattas view the content of those they follow nattaChannel – where Nattas load and can see their own content. Note for Editors Avanatta Limited is a privately-‐owned British company established in 2013. Georgina Pursey, nattaRunner and co-‐founder of avanatta. A creative writing graduate, Georgina runs the content and creative side of the business, focusing on digital marketing, celebrity and client management. Jack Pursey, nattaRunner and co-‐founder of avanatta. Jack is an undergraduate in advertising, marketing and communications and has spent much of the last year working with the tech side of the business defining the product. 18.05.15 Richard Pursey, nattaGaffa (CEO) and co-‐founder of avanatta. With a strong background in start-‐ups, Richard has extensive experience in IT and risk management. He’s also a qualified hot air balloon pilot! Press enquiries: on Avanatta follow the @avanattaPress channel. Send a natta mentioning @avanattaPress. Alternatively, use antiquated email ([email protected]) or visit www.avanatta.com/press Visit www.avanatta.com Twitter: @Avanatta 18.05.15