Will Cameo be Google’s route into social media?

August 14, 2018

You have to give Google full marks for effort. While the list of social media failures is pretty lengthy, they’ve not let that deter them from making further attempts. This time around, they’ve at least got a toe in territory that they can claim as their own. With Cameo, Google have based part of their new social offering on search, or to be more specific, questions people ask about celebrities.

The Cameo iOS app (no love for Android currently) allows your favourite celebrity to answer questions about themselves, rather than waiting for tabloids or enthusiastic online commentators to take ownership of the topic. The initial trials seem to have been successful and it’s easy to see the appeal. For the celebrity, they have the option to address questions with a video, gif or photo. For the general public, they cut out the middle-man and get a public response direct from the most important person. And for Google, they can lean on their authority in search to claim to have the most trustworthy answer in an age of fake news.

It has to be said that this isn’t an entirely new approach, as Instagram has had a very similar feature via the Questions widget which was launched in July. This shouldn’t detract from what Cameo offers, so many of the most popular features on social platforms have heavily been borrowed from other platforms, this is common practice. If Google really do intend this to be an extension of their online territory, then this could be a very successful new social media app. To get in on the action, brands may need to review their approach to influencer marketing.

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