Hive Social

Hive Social
Type of site
Social networking service
Available inMultilingual
FoundedJune 5, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-06-05)
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerHive
Founder(s)Kassandra Pop
CEOKassandra Pop
URLwww.hivesocial.app
RegistrationRequired
Users1 million
LaunchedOctober 2019; 5 years ago (2019-10)
Current statusActive
Native client(s) on

Hive Social is a microblogging service and mobile app. The app received news coverage during the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk in November 2022.[1][2][3]

Hive Social was developed by Raluca Pop, also known as Kassandra Pop, with the help of a freelance developer, and the first version launched on the Apple App Store in October 2019.[4] A beta version for Android was released via the Google Play store on November 10, 2022.[5][6] The app has been described as a hybrid between Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr,[1] with text, image and video posts supported. Hive is rated for ages 17+ and explicit images are permitted, including sexual intercourse, genitalia and nude close-ups.[7] Hive features a chronological timeline with no personalisation algorithms,[3] while profiles offer a MySpace-like song playing feature.[8]

As of November 2022, the app reached number one on the top free social apps on the App Store[4] and has over one million user accounts, despite email verification limits being reached. This spike in growth may be attributed to those who were leaving Twitter due to the controversy that ensued following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter on October 27, 2022.[3][8][9]

On 30 November 2022, "zerforschung", a German hacker collective, published information about severe security issues with Hive Social, among them the possibility to access all personal data, including private posts, private messages, shared media and even deleted direct messages. This also included private email addresses and phone numbers entered during login. Attackers could also overwrite data such as posts owned by other users.[10][11] In response to the publication of the security report, Hive abruptly shut down their service to attempt to address the vulnerabilities.[12] As of December 15, 2022, Hive's servers were back online and the platform returned online. The app also left beta on Android devices and saw a full release on the Google Play Store.[13] Some features were disabled in the 2.0.0 update after the shutdown, such as direct messages, music, and polls.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tassi, Paul (November 22, 2022). "Twitter Alternative 'Hive Social' Is Having A Viral Sign-Up Moment". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  2. ^ Antonelli, William (November 21, 2022). "What is Hive Social? A guide to the viral Twitter alternative that has no algorithms". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Barbaschow, Asha (November 21, 2022). "Twitter Alternative Hive Social Now Has 1M Users, But What is It?". Gizmodo Australia. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Gibbs, Alice (November 22, 2022). "Meet the Student Behind Hive, the Twitter Alternative Challenging Elon Musk". Newsweek. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  5. ^ Sidhu, Karanjot (November 25, 2022). "Hive Social trends as Twitter alternative: Users report app crashing". PiunikaWeb. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  6. ^ "Hive Social". Google Play. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  7. ^ Billingsley, Kristen (November 30, 2022). "How To Tag NSFW Content On Hive Social (And Why You Should)". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2022. Hive Social is a social media platform for adults, and like Twitter, allows users to post NSFW content provided they add the appropriate tag
  8. ^ a b Ahmed, Zohaib (November 22, 2022). "Hive Social crosses the 1 million users mark: What is it and how to sign up". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  9. ^ Delouya, Samantha (November 22, 2022). "Hive Social has grown to 2 million users and shot to the top of the App Store since people started fleeing Twitter. It's run by a 24-year-old founder and 2 other employees". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  10. ^ "Warning: do not use Hive Social". zerforschung.org. November 30, 2022. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  11. ^ Barbaschow, Asha (December 1, 2022). "Security Researchers Issue Warning Over Hive Social, the App Many Consider a Twitter Alternative". Gizmodo Australia. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  12. ^ Goodin, Dan (December 1, 2022). "Hive Social turns off servers after researchers warn hackers can access all data". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2022. Hive Social, a social media platform that has seen meteoric growth since Elon Musk took over Twitter, abruptly shut down its service on Wednesday after a security advisory warned the site was riddled with vulnerabilities that exposed all data stored in user accounts.
  13. ^ Hive Social [@thehive_social] (December 17, 2022). "Both iOS and Android are live now! Yes, Android has been approved" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ^ "Hive Social". App Store. Retrieved January 6, 2023.