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Discord is set to close the curtains on Gas, the anonymous compliments-based social media app it acquired earlier this year. The app's official shutdown date is slated for November 7, as confirmed by a Discord spokesperson. While the news of this impending closure was first reported by The Information, the backstory reveals that Discord's primary interest in acquiring Gas was its talented engineering team, according to an internal memo seen by the same source.
Gas, which burst onto the scene in August 2022, swiftly endeared itself to teens with its mission to create a positive social media platform. Achieving one million daily active users within just two months, Gas even managed to outshine the likes of TikTok and other popular social apps in the Apple App Store rankings during October and November of the same year.
In terms of global downloads, Gas registered an impressive seven million since its launch, with a peak of 3.1 million downloads in November 2022. However, growth momentum began to wane, dropping to 2,900 downloads last month. Gas held the 16th position among the top iOS social media apps by US downloads since August 29, 2022. Notably, the app was exclusively available on iOS and limited to the United States and Canada.
Designed to empower high schoolers, Gas encouraged users to participate in polls about their classmates, where the questions were framed to uplift, rather than harm, their self-esteem. The selected teen would receive an anonymous message with a heartfelt compliment. Its uniqueness lay in its commitment to creating a positive digital space, distinguishing it from conventional social media platforms.
Gas was the brainchild of Nikita Bier, who had previously founded TBH, another anonymous social app catering to high schoolers. Facebook acquired TBH in 2017, only to shut it down in 2018 due to low usage.
Intriguingly, it appears that Nikita Bier may be preparing to launch a new app. A recent tweet by Bier teased, "Next week there will be a new King of the App Store." While the app's nature remains undisclosed, given Bier's previous endeavors, it might well be another anonymous social app.
