I wouldn’t consider myself a social media addict, but I certainly do find myself scrolling through short-videos, photos, and content on the regular. When I actually have the time to brush my hair, you best believe that I flood the world with a few selfies. While I do love to keep up with my favorite Influencers, I’m sometimes turned off by the sea of sponsored content, Influencer content, and similar videos. Already stuck in a never-ending “Groundhog’s Day” in quarantine, this similar content makes me feel even more stuck, bored, and uninspired. 

 

A few days ago, a friend suggested that I download Zynn, a new short-video sharing app. I couldn’t fathom how Zynn could be different from competitors, but decided to give it a try anyway. After all, there’s a ton of hype surrounding Zynn, and the app rose to the top of the charts almost immediately after release. I had to find out for myself whether Zynn was worth the celebratory praise.

 

First Impression

After searching for the app on Apple’s App Store, I found the app, along with the tagline “be seen, be heard, be you.” If the tagline was representative of the overall mission of Zynn, I was in. I was yearning for fresh faces, interesting content, and the ability to share my own daily stories in a visible way, impossible for anyone without thousands of followers on other apps. The app’s preview showed a clean, sleek design, perfect for letting content take center stage. The buttons and features seemed instantly self-explanatory, and I was confident that I wouldn’t have to spend too much time familiarizing myself with a complex setup. 

 

I also instantly noticed that Zynn held a 4.4 out of 5 rating on the App Store, with a whopping 35,000 ratings. This was proof that I wasn’t the only one excited to try something new. Though the app was only launched a few months ago, I found that there were a few updates already in effect. This was another good sign that the app’s founders were listening to feedback, and committed to making Zynn as user-friendly as possible.

 

Downloading and Setting Up

I quickly downloaded the app, and launched Zynn for the first time. I was prompted to allow notifications from the app, which was a no-brainer. Like the millions of other short-video users, I wanted to be immediately notified of any interaction occurring on my posted videos. Knowing that I had these allowances already set would keep me from frantically refreshing the app. At least, that’s what I told myself. 

 

Instead of having to immediately set up a profile and go through the settings of the app, I was pleasantly surprised to see a video start playing. Just what I needed. I giggled at the prank taking place before my eyes, and instinctively followed the welcoming pop up finger, instructing me to swipe up for the next video. I instantly found each video to be hilarious, inspiring, thought provoking, or downright ingenious. I spent a few minutes just checking out videos, before deciding to create a profile, which would enable me to interact with the videos I liked.

 

By tapping the “Me” button on the bottom right side, I was prompted to sign up for Zynn. Instead of having to provide a whole bunch of information, I could sign up with my phone number, Google, Facebook, Apple, or Twitter. For people already on these platforms, it makes sense to have a cohesive log-in that works together. The rest of the setup process was a breeze, but still allowed me to take advantage of Zynn’s well-known commitment to personalization and authenticity. I uploaded a cute pic, wrote a little blurb about myself, and I was off to the races. 

 

I went back to enjoy some videos, and follow accounts that I knew I would like. In the videos section, Zynn has a “for you” area that is populated with diverse content. The content becomes personalized based on your interactions with videos, so I knew that I would be setting the tone for the type of content that would be featured in my feed. There is also a “following” section, which would make it easy to find videos from accounts that I like. Finally, the app also added a search feature, making it super easy to find content. I searched for “beauty tutorials”, and quickly found tons of users and videos dedicated to makeup, beauty, and skincare. 

 

Tapping on a few hearts, and liking a few channels, I did notice that there was a lot of diverse content to choose from. The beauty category wasn’t overrun by celebrity makeup artists showing off their newest palettes. In fact, there were countless everyday people showing off homemade masks, natural hair products, acne solutions, and clever beauty hacks. The experience felt a lot more relatable, and I actually got a few ideas that I tried out of perusing these beauty videos.

 

Making Videos

A day after downloading Zynn, I was ready to upload my first video. I found myself inspired by a DIY mask tutorial that I saw the previous day. I tapped on the beaming yellow light in the center of the bottom menu, and was instantly greeted by the front facing camera. The format was crisp and clean, leaving an unobstructed view for my handiwork to take center stage. Of course, since this was my first time creating a video, I had to play around with all of the features first. 

 

Right away, I was drawn to the instant beautification button, marked by a smiling face with dazzling light bursts around it. Once I tapped this feature, my skin was instantly smoothed, radiant, and glowing. Yes, this would certainly be a good feature for my DIY mask unveiling. I also experimented with the various premade filters available, and was inspired to try a few different looks for future videos. The filters create an instant ambiance, and will come in handy for rustic exploration, dramatic scenes, and bright adventures. I also checked out Zynn’s magic effects, which allows users to become deer, festival goers, and cute characters with one tap of a finger. These effects were cute, interactive, and totally fun. I instantly decided to come back to these for future videos.

 

Recording my first video was a snap, and I was very happy with the results of my first experience. Though I nailed it, there were a few little tweaks that I wanted to make. Zynn’s editing tools were super easy to use, and I was able to get the exact color balance, warmth, and ambiance in my video that I wanted. Finally, in order to make my video more entertaining, I wanted to add sound. I thought it was too late, since I didn’t play a song in the background while recording. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to find Zynn’s audio soundtrack feature. I could choose from a wide library of premade tunes, or upload my own original soundtrack. I was prompted to allow Zynn access to my media library, making it easy to choose files. I didn’t have to manually upload anything, and was able to add a personalized soundtrack to my video seamlessly.

 

Community Building and Interactions

After I posted my first video, I was surprised to see how quickly I got reactions from the Zynn community. People were not only liking my video, but they were posting comments, and interacting with each other about my first video. I had more interaction with the community in a single day on Zynn than I had on any other platform, and I was excited to respond back, and post more content. I found that commenters were supportive, funny, and genuinely interested in what they were looking at. This inspired me to create more videos, and interact with the community.

 

I also found myself commenting on other peoples’ videos more, and interacting with the conversations already occurring on various videos. The Zynn community brought out honesty, authenticity, and excitement in sharing thoughts, videos, comments, and ideas. The experience felt very collaborative, like a giant family.

 

So, is Zynn Worth the Hype?

After about a week or so of using Zynn, I found myself excited to be receiving pop-up notifications alerting me to activity on my account. I found myself looking forward to taking a quick work break to check out what’s new on the app. By now, I was a pro at navigating Zynn’s functions, and felt familiar and comfortable with the app. While the app’s sleek design and personalization capabilities were a huge draw, the real draw of the app is the community that Zynn has inspired. Active, authentic, and creative, this community of creators and viewers is diverse, real, and representative of today’s desire for genuineness in the social media sphere. Based on my experience, and the collective experiences of Zynn fans, the app is certifiably worth the hype.