Oyster's founders have played up what could be seen as a limitation, emphasizing that the app encourages reading in the minor moments of life that we normally give over to fiddling idly on our mobile phones.
Released for Apple's iPhone, the app encourages people to choose a pen name, then invite other users to collaborate with them on short stories by taking turns to write new paragraphs of up to 280 characters.
Rather the app encourages users to share their posts to mainline social networks such as Instagram.
Aimed at non-verbal children from the age of 18 months upwards, the app encourages players to focus on other people and their needs, something people with autism find difficult.
Another thing we liked: The app encourages you to stay standing -- if not deskercising -- for a full five minutes, making it feel like true break during your otherwise busy day.
This mobile app encourages parents to manage family health with customized recommendations based on each family member's profile.
Yesterday, the company also sent an email to subscribers of the app encouraging people to share cabs and reduce their fares.
At the time, concerns that the app encouraged vigilantism, racial profiling and generally unsafe behavior were voiced by our site and many others.
The app encourages users to post anonymous thoughts and confessions and then follows up with individuals to create journalistic reports with partners including Buzzfeed and The Guardian itself.
The app encourages its users to "check in" to places they visit - bars, hotels, restaurants, parks, anything really - in order to record their movements, interact with friends, find new places, become the "mayor" of venues, and um, collect points.
