“Hey, girl! Catch me on Peepme! @bougiegirl4u.”
There’s just not enough information being shared on social media yet.
We don’t know about you, but every time we open our Facebook feed, we can’t help but think: “Yeah, we hear you, your biological clock is ticking, you’re mad at your cheating boyfriend, you had the most delicious kale and quinoa salad for dinner last night, and your tan is looking great. But seriously, how much did you spend on that gel manicure? How much are you spending on everything you buy? How much did those jeans cost you (including tax)? TELL US WE’RE DYING TO KNOW!!!”
At least, that’s how Peepme assumes we’re thinking, if their creation of an app that connects people to other users based on their habits of buying, selling, and spending is anything to go by. Alright-y.
Peepme can be linked to your Facebook profile or your e-mail account (efficient and professional, but so boring), and gives you the opportunity to post photos of items or services that you’ve purchased, with the option to disclose how much cheddar you dropped on that specific item, of course. Then, because privacy is overrated and attention from others (negative or positive) isn’t, you can and probably will be searched by strangers, who are either going to be interested and attracted to or appalled by your habits. Each user has “peepers” and “peeping,” so it seems as if the system works on a similar principle to Instagram, where it’s not necessary to follow or like posts of users who follow your or your like your posts. The top of your profile reveals the total amount in dollars you’ve spent on the items listed on your profile, presumably linking your worth (both as a shopper and a human being) to how much you’re spending. Sweet!
One question: Just whom, exactly, does this appeal to? What’s their target demographic – narcissistic socialites and their loyal (and most likely envious) followings? If that’s the case, this app probably stands to do pretty well. Although we can’t really speculate, since that’s pretty much all the information available on the app’s website, except for the disclaimer in which the app’s developers warn you they can’t control what people are going to do with that information that you share.
Which is an interesting warning, because what kind of harm do they think knowing how much a user paid for a pair of jeans is going to cause (besides inspiring feelings of vanity, envy, resentment, and competition)? World War Shopping Spree?
On some level, this would make a certain amount of sense for fashion and food bloggers whose professional existences demand they prostitute the items that companies send to them to the masses, but it’s unlikely that they’ll stray too far from ‘Gramland, which has been working just fine up ’til now. Why attempt to fix something that’s not broken?
Because, as you well know, you can never have too much “fun.” As one user says on their five star iTunes rating:
“Very fun and fabulous app. I like buying handbags, this app lets me see what others are buying and at what price. Buying handbags has been more fun since I downloaded Peepme on my iPhone.”
Sure.
*Insert dubious emoji face here.*
