Business
MassRoots is ‘Instagram for Weed’
Living somewhere with legal cannabis can be amazing–there
are dispensaries, smoking clubs, and no penalty for possessing the plant you
love. But how unfair is it that when you want to share your l
Living somewhere with legal cannabis can be amazing–there
are dispensaries, smoking clubs, and no penalty for possessing the plant you
love. But how unfair is it that when you want to share your love for the leaf,
friends and family balk and your account gets shut down? MassRoots aims to
change this by making their Instagram-style social media platform extremely
popular with cannabis users.
MassRoots is based in Denver, and looks a lot like the phone
app for Instagram, except that the background border is green instead of blue,
and followers are ironically called “buds.”
“We thought of all of our friends who smoked, almost
none of them posted about it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter ’cause their
families or bosses are connected to them on those networks,” Isaac
Dietrich, the young CEO of the company, stated in an interview with ABC 7 in
Denver. “I wouldn’t want my grandmother to see a picture of me taking a
bong rip every time she logs into Facebook.”
The app was founded by Dietrich and his partner Tyler Knight, who came up with the idea while smoking a joint together and brainstorming. The site functions much the same way as Instagram–anyone can make an account, and you can spend hours scrolling through the yummy shots of cannabis eye candy. While anyone can make an account, there is also the “Editor’s Choice” section featuring the most creative and artistic photos. The app already has 275,000 users, and recently won a battle to be included in Apple’s app store.
“We’re just now
reaching the point where investors are saying, ‘This is a real business. This
is real opportunity,’ and actually giving us money to turn our vision into a
reality,” Dietrich stated. “We’re all 20-25 years old and we’re living our
version of the American dream.”
As legalization gains
favor nationwide, MassRoots and other social media apps like it are bound to
gain more followers and support.
