\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/e639d_polly-polls.png?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Snapchat doesn\u2019t technically have a developer platform, but that hasn\u2019t stopped other startups from taking advantage of its new feature for attaching links to your Snaps<\/a> and Stories. Sarahah was the first, allowing people to ask fellow Snappers for open-ended anonymous feedback. But the problem is that those requests could be met with cyberbullying.<\/p>\n Polly is a new teen sensation<\/a> that\u2019s similarly spread through Snapchat. But the lightweight polling apps for iOS <\/a>and Android<\/a> protect users by allowing them to create multiple choice questions where they define the answers. It\u2019s quick and easy enough to hold the attention of fickle teens, allowing it to rack up 20 million users and 100 million answers last month.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Polly works. Write a request or rifle through randomized suggestions like \u201cWhat\u2019s your spirit animal?\u201d or \u201cWhat am I best at?\u201d, make up some answers, grab the mobile web link, create a Snap promoting your poll, attach the link, and publish. Your audience can follow your cue to swipe up to open the Polly poll in Snapchat\u2019s internal web browser, and answer without having to login.<\/p>\n That last fact is what\u2019s let it grow so quickly. Those 20 million users don\u2019t necessarily have the Polly app where you make the polls, so they could slip away if friends stop posting questions. But it\u2019s still a mark of success for a team that\u2019s been experimenting for years looking for a hit.<\/p>\n Polly co-founder and CEO Ranidu Lankage<\/p>\n Ranidu Lankage launched electronic music discovery app The Drop<\/a> in 2015 with his partner Justin Kan, who had started Twitch and sold it to Amazon. But after The Drop and several other music products didn\u2019t quite blow up, Lankage and Kan founded Whale, a video QA app<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whale aligned with the short-form video and candid social media trends of the day, and was admitted to the prestigious Y Combinator acceleator. But keeping content quality high and easy to browse on Whale proved difficult, and growth wasn\u2019t stellar. One day on the way to YC\u2019s Mountain View headquarters, Lankage tells me he and his co-founders James Zhang and Vicc Alexander realized \u201cWe enjoyed polls. We\u2019d seen them on Twitter and other apps, and we thought wed\u2019 be able to bring them to a new platform.\u201d<\/p>\n They finalized the idea, and pivoted Whale into Polly to complete YC. Both Whale and Polly are about getting people to share their thoughts. Polly just simplifies that to a multiple-choice question instead of forcing people to record videos that take time and can make users feel self-conscious.<\/p>\n Lankage sympathizes with Snapchat not offering an official developer platform because \u201cAPIs\u00a0are most of the time abused by developers. You\u2019ve seen that with Zynga on Facebook\u201d Lankage explains. Developers spam people\u2019s contacts or post without a user\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n \u201cBut on Polly, you have to do linking manually, so you have to build something people actually\u201d Lankage says.<\/p>\n The question will be whether users and Polly\u2019s team are creative enough to keep coming up with compelling poll questions. There\u2019s not much to do in the app right now, so it could get stale, though Polly plans to add direct messaging and more features to keep teens hooked.<\/p>\n Polly will also have to compete with Sarahah and fast-rising anonymous app TBH. Polly could get a big boost if Instagram decides to allow normal users to post links in their Stories, instead of just allowing verified profiles to do that. But until then it\u2019s at the mercy of Snapchat, which could decide to block links to Polly. Snap and Instagram could always build their own polling features too.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/96dbf_polly-friends.jpeg?resize=640%2C436&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/96dbf_ranidu-lankage.jpg?resize=320%2C338&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/96dbf_polly-results.png?resize=320%2C552&ssl=1\")
That\u2019s pushed Polly up to the #13 social app in the US this week, passing hot startup Houseparty.<\/p>\n