Peter Steinberger, founder of OpenClaw, wrote something that stuck with me: "All apps will become APIs or disappear. Apps that will remain will be games or sensor-heavy." His point? Everything's gonna be an API if they want or not.
I've been thinking about what this means for social apps specifically. And I think the shift is simpler, and more profound, than most people realize.
It comes down to one word: proactive.
The Problem: Reactive Social Apps
Every social app you use today is reactive. You tap, it responds. You search, it shows results. You scroll, it serves content.
You want to find someone interesting? You search. You analyze their profile. You decide if they're worth following. You do all the work.
And because everything depends on your actions, the whole system optimizes for engagement. Likes. Comments. Views. The result? Performative content. People showing what they think will get attention, not who they actually are.
It's not that the technology is bad. It's that the technology was limited. Social apps could only respond to what you did. They couldn't anticipate, analyze, or act on your behalf.
Until now.
The Shift: Proactive Social Apps
AI agents change the equation. For the first time, software can do the work that you used to do yourself.
Think about finding a friend on social media today. You have to:
- Search for someone
- Look at their profile
- Analyze if you have things in common
- Decide if you want to connect
That's a lot of friction. And most people don't do it, or they do it badly, following people who look interesting but aren't actually compatible.
Now imagine an agent that watches your real moments, where you go, what you do, how you spend your time, and finds people who share those patterns. Two people who go to the same gym. Who grab coffee at the same spot. Who love the same obscure bar after work.
These are real connections. Not based on curated profiles or performative posts. Based on life.
That's what proactive means. The app doesn't wait for you to search. It works in the background, finding what you couldn't find yourself.
Why This Matters Now
There's a reason BeReal resonated. There's a reason Gen Z posts almost exclusively to Stories and keeps private accounts for close friends. There's a reason younger users have three Instagram profiles—one public, one private, one for their actual best friends.
People want real. They're tired of performing.
But here's the thing: social media, for all its problems, made something harder. It made us less likely to approach someone in real life. Less likely to start a conversation. Less likely to take the small social risks that used to be normal.
We need new ways to make those connections. Not by going backwards, but by using technology differently.
How We're Building This at Flare
At Flare, we're building with this philosophy at the core.
The Flare Agent analyzes real moments, short videos captured in the moment, not uploaded from a gallery, not edited, not performed. From a single authentic moment, we can understand more about someone than a bio ever could.
The Echo Agent finds genuine connections. Not "you both liked the same post." Real patterns. You both go to the same coffee shop. You both work out in the morning. You both love this neighborhood bar that nobody talks about online.
The magic moment we're chasing? Finding a friend you would never have found otherwise. Someone who shares your actual life, not just your curated interests. Someone you'd never have met without an agent doing the work for you.
This Is the Future
Social apps aren't going away. But they're transforming.
The next generation of social apps won't just respond to what you do. They'll work for you. They'll find connections you couldn't find yourself. They'll surface what matters without you having to search for it.
And the content? That stays human. That stays real. That's the whole point.
This is the future of social. And this is why we're building Flare the way we are.
