RAW Introduces Paid Selfie Challenge, Sees Engagement Spike

RAW, a dating app focused on authenticity, has launched a new initiative that pays users to take part in a daily selfie challenge. The feature is designed to promote unfiltered, real-life glimpses into users’ daily routines, using a dual-camera system to capture simultaneous front and rear-facing images.

The app’s primary gimmick is the daily photo system: each day, the app issues a randomized prompt giving users a short window to submit two photos – a selfie and their immediate surroundings. By removing the opportunity for staging or editing, RAW aims to prioritize genuine interaction over curated appearances. The new challenge builds off this system by pushing users to either show themselves in a genuinely authentic way, or be creative with what little time they have to prepare for the selfies.

To encourage engagement, RAW is running a weekly contest that rewards three participants for particularly authentic or creative submissions. Winners are selected every Friday, meaning that three users are rewarded each week – and participation has reached 65% since the contest began. According to the company, the initiative has also led to a 35% increase in overall user activity on the platform.

While the selfie challenge is a limited-time campaign, it’s been an effective tool to boost engagement, and has also given users a chance to boost their profiles without having to use paid systems like many other platforms. These spontaneous rewards are meant to match the spontaneous selfies that the system creates, and are specifically aimed at the most authentic and creative photos, rather than the most attractive or high-effort – which is very in line with RAW’s philosophy.