SnapDash, a social app to make taking group pictures more fun, is officially launching for iOS next week. An Android version is due by the end of the week. The initial app is free, ad-free and completely different from the similarly named SnapChat.
"SnapDash is a creativity facilitator," explains Hanks. "Most people freeze when told to be funny on demand. And social media has become success theater. SnapDash is about being comfortable leaving that zone."
When users launch the app, they can choose among five categories including So Awkward, Creature Feature, That Just Happened, Bring Your A Game and Potpourri. The app then generates a "snaption" ("You're an angry velociraptor," or "You're the world's best lion tamer") and users have six seconds to react and pose for a picture.
The pictures can be edited and the caption is printed on the frame of the photo for context. Users can delete the picture, save it locally on their device's camera or choose to share it, either via the app's SnapDash feed (similar to that of Facebook or Instagram), via Facebook or via Twitter. But Hanks assures users SnapDash photos are saved locally and are only put on a server when a user chooses to put them there.
Hanks, who cops to a stint as an amateur stand-up comedian and credits classes with Shawn Westfall at
DC Improv for unlocking his inner class clown, wrote 80 percent of the 550 snaptions currently available in the app, dictating them into his phone as he commuted to and from his day job as a corporate strategist for a company in Northern Virginia.
"I'm running out the clock," he says, referring to coming up with ideas for new snaptions. "I am fortunate to be surrounded by funny friends. And in time, users will be able to create their own snaptions, save them in a category of their own choosing and queue them up on demand. We're moving as fast as we can."
SnapDash is looking for summer interns to work on social media.