We Heart It- A Platform For The Social Butterflies To Spread More Love
It doesn’t matter if the chicken salad is delicious but it should look tasty. Isn’t it? This is the current status of a social butterfly. From making a DIY lamp to the video of their window shopping, they love to share everything. And, social media gives you a platform to do so. But, how about improvising the concept a little bit and creating something better that touches the heart of millions of people?
Since we all love sharing beautiful pictures all the time, how about an image-based network? Or even better if it is an image-based social network. Fabio Giolito built such a network in 2008 which is still inspiring people and spreading love.
Drop A Heart
The exact idea of what this platform does might be a little blurry. Well, most of us are on famous social platforms like Facebook or Instagram. But, unlike those sites, Weheart It is all about posting pictures and sharing it. It creates a visually dynamic website where images, animated GIFs and videos can be posted.
One can like the picture or rather ‘heart’ it and share and save. The best thing about this social network is one cannot comment on the pictures. This creates a very positive environment within the social community of We Heart It. So, if one doesn’t like a picture he or she can simply scroll down without any criticism.
This helps expand the community as no one feels shy about posting anything on the platform. You simply drop a heart and share away from your favorite photographs.
Fabio Giolito
Fabio Giolito has plenty of experience in the professional world. He had a deep interest in designing from a very young age. And, throughout his career, he was involved as a designer in some biggest companies around the world.
Fabio belongs to Brazil. In 2008, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Product Design from a university in Rio de Janeiro.
In January 2008, Fabio joined Globo.com as a designer. But, before joining this company he already started planning his start-up. On 3rd January 2008, the launching of the mobile app for We Heart It took place. But, he didn’t stop here.
In the same year, Fabio joined I Hate Flash as a designer and a developer and continued for two years. He also became the lead designer of Yahoo and left the company within a year. In 2010, he joined WeDemand as a designer and a developer.
Fabio made another breakthrough in 2009 when he created ListaAmiga. It then became the biggest events platform in Brazil. Currently, he works at Expa as a Designer-In-Residence.
A Small Initiative
The story of We Hears It dates back to 2007 when Fabio was still an undergraduate student. He created the website for himself and there he added a feature to collect pictures he liked. He said it was to help him get more ideas about his designing course.
Eventually, he showed it to some of his classmates and they started using it too. Seeing the great feedback within his campus he decided to launch it as a tool for every social media lover out there. In 2008, two years before the creation of Pinterest, We Heart It launched.
The Growth
When the app was launched, there wasn’t anything to dislike about it. It started growing exponentially as the words spread in every friend’s group. They went to the website, signed up and started sharing photos.
When the app was launched, Fabio wasn’t fully dedicated to this. Because he never started it thinking something big will come out of it. And, once the business started flourishing he needed a helping hand because then he had a full-time job at Yahoo.
He brought Bruno Zanchet in the business and together they landed some funding. So, We Hear It finally became a conventional business with funding in 2011. They established the headquarters in San Francisco, California.
The Success
The business started with just 25 employees. There first big funding was in June 2013 when they raised $8 million from White Oak and IDG Ventures. In the next year, Alexa ranked the company 754 globally. In June 2016, the company came into a partnership with The Blu Market.
Currently, the company is under the acquisition of Super Basic, LLC and it doesn’t operate from San Francisco anymore. But, the platform now has 45 monthly users. It continues to inspire people and serves as a hotspot for creative ideas.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more