Tagly Puts Social Media Algorithms in the Users' Hands

Tagly, a social media platform that aims to reverse the trend of algorithmic control over users' social feeds, released today for iOS and Android.Tagly creates a feed specifically for brand content, allowing users to interact with their preferred brands at their leisure, rather than paid posts interrupting social browsing. Tagly separates content into four types of posts: sale, product, news, and events.The platform is focused around fashion, and caters to style-conscious users with deep relationships to their preferred brands. "If you want the Wal-Mart of social, you go to Facebook. If you want the Nordstrom of social, you go to Instagram. You want the Fifth Avenue flagship store of social, you go to Tagly," Alhermizi says.In recent years, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have pivoted away from organic reach on their social media platforms in favor of an algorithmic approach. Data from Ogilvy indicates that less than 2% of the posts from pages with more than 500,000 likes appear in users' feeds."We deliver 100 percent organic reach with 100 percent transparency," Alhermizi says.Tagly was founded by Alhermizi, a Detroit-based entrepreneur who sold his previous company, Gas Station TV, to Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures in 2014.Tagly's method of classifying posts contrasts it with established social networks' models."Up until now, following a person or brand on social media was a binary proposition--I'm either following you or not," Alhermizi says. "Tagly turns that on its head. Our systems analyze every post a brand puts out and our platform enables the user to choose the category of post they want to follow. For example, do I want to only follow sales from Armani? That is the big change that we are going to create, giving users more control and brands more power."