Happier: the social network for sharing the things that make you smile

Sick of all the moody sub-tweets and rant posts clogging up your news feed? A new social media startup is hoping to make things a little bit more positive by focusing exclusively on encouraging users to post updates of things that make them happy. No negativity allowed.

Boston-based Happier is all about optimism with a website and iOS app that allow users to post photos and status updates of anything from their latest achievement to a recent compliment or even just a beautiful sunset — big or small, no moment is too trivial. So far, more than a million happy moments have been posted by the site’s 100 000 users since the release of its iOS app in February this year.

Speaking to the New York Times, founder and CEO Nataly Kogan said that although other social networks obviously also allow for users to share positive experiences, they can be seen as trivial or spammy by other users. Sites like Facebook have also become the place for only the best and most flattering updates and photos, not the everyday moments that provide small spurts of joy. “On Facebook, God forbid I post a comment that I took five minutes to have a cup of coffee,” said Kogan. “You post the best latte in your life on Facebook.”

The app is set up to help users document positive experiences, starting from good food and meetings with friends to bigger life goals. It’s filled with inspiring quotes and allows you to create collections of happiness in folders like ‘family’, ‘time with friends’ and ‘the little things’ and, instead of the usual ‘like’ or ‘heart’ button, it’s got a giant smiley face front-and-centre.

Of course, all that positivity can be quickly tempered if users opt to post about things that make them sad. Although the team doesn’t censor or remove unhappy content, it says it’s experienced very low levels of abuse so far and is hoping to continue to the trend.