Alively: the mobile video app that's trying to be the new family camcorder

If Instagram is the digital equivalent of the traditional family photo album, then Alively wants to be the service that lets you shoot your home videos

Most of today's social media platforms allow users to project glossy, well-lit and edited versions of themselves to an extended group of acquaintances. Perfect selfies, latte art and #fitspo crowd out the more mundane nuts and bolts of life.

Real-time formats, such as Facebook Live, Periscope and Meerkat, peel away a layer of artifice. The power of mobile live-streaming became all-too apparent when it was used by Diamond Reynolds to document the dying breaths of her boyfriend Philando Castile, who had been shot by a Minnesota police officer. It's also been harnessed by celebrities such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for intimate interactions with fans. (Fortunately not too intimate.)