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Sample content vs social seeding: which empty-state fill pattern is more common?

  • By Ali Abouelatta
  • n = 809
  • Published
  • Updated
  • 2 min read
  • onboarding · ux-patterns · mobile · saas · design
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Short answer

Sample or demo content is the more common way to fill an empty product: 100 apps use it (1,331 screenshots) versus 64 apps for social seeding (230 screenshots) source[1]. Sample content leads in editor and creation apps; social seeding leads in feed and network apps source[2]. Both trail the plain empty state (373 apps), so they are differentiators, not defaults source[3].

The quotable stat
Sample content appears in 100 apps vs social seeding in 64 — sample content is the more common empty-state fill — Lazyweb Research, July 2026.

The head-to-head

When teams decide to fill an empty surface rather than just label it, the two dominant approaches split like this source[1]:

PatternAppsScreenshots
Sample / demo content1001,331
Social seeding64230

Sample content wins on both dimensions, and its screenshot-per-app density (13.3) is far higher than social seeding's (3.6), meaning apps that use demo content lean on it across many screens rather than a single splash.

They serve different product shapes

The choice is driven by product type, not preference source[2]. Sample-content apps are overwhelmingly creation/editor tools where a blank canvas is the enemy: adobe, canva, capcut, pages, replit, wix, and kahoot all seed templates or example projects. Social-seeding apps are feed/network products where an empty timeline is the enemy: snapchat, goodreads, strava, signal, whatnot, and peloton all push suggested follows or find-friends. If your empty surface is a canvas, sample content is the peer convention; if it is a feed, social seeding is.

How to apply it

Match the fill to the void. A creation tool with no social graph gains little from "find friends" but a lot from a starter template; a social feed gains little from demo posts but a lot from suggested follows. Because both patterns sit well below the 373-app empty-state baseline source[3], adopting the right one is a way to stand out — most competitors will just show "nothing here yet."

Caveats

All three counts are tag-match lower bounds and deduped by company source[1]source[3]. The named examples illustrate product-type fit but are not an exhaustive census. Screenshot counts reflect captured/tagged screens, not runtime frequency, so the 13.3-vs-3.6 density gap describes the corpus, not necessarily user exposure source[1].

Real in-market screens

Screens from real, in-market apps, tracked by Lazyweb Research.

  • Reminders home screen — real in-market example tracked by Lazyweb Research
    Reminders1206 × 2622opens the full image
  • Gemini home screen — real in-market example tracked by Lazyweb Research
    Gemini1206 × 2622opens the full image
  • Fitbod equipment-review screen — real in-market example tracked by Lazyweb Research
    Fitbod1206 × 2622opens the full image
  • Taskrabbit Account Setup screen — real in-market example tracked by Lazyweb Research
    Taskrabbit1206 × 2622opens the full image

The numbers

#StatComputed from
[1]Sample content 100 apps / 1,331 screenshots; social seeding 64 apps / 230 screenshotspattern_prevalence_by_company: sample_content 100 companies (1331 shots), social_seeding 64 companies (230 shots); density 1331/100=13.3, 230/64=3.6
[2]Sample-content apps: adobe, canva, capcut, pages, replit, wix, kahoot; social-seeding apps: snapchat, goodreads, strava, signal, whatnot, pelotonqualitative named_examples sample_content and social_seeding
[3]Plain empty state baseline 373 appspattern_prevalence_by_company empty_state 373 companies

Methodology

Universe is 809 mobile apps (July 2026); sample-content and social-seeding prevalence computed by tag match and deduped by company. Counts are lower bounds and named examples are illustrative, not exhaustive.

Sources

  1. [1]

    Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026

    Sample-content and social-seeding prevalence deduped by company via tag match.

    Back to text

  2. [2]

    Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026

    Named examples grouped by product type for each pattern.

    Back to text

  3. [3]

    Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026

    Plain empty-state baseline: 373 companies.

    Back to text

Source: Lazyweb Research — proprietary analysis of real, in-market app screens. Cite as Lazyweb Research, 2026-07-07.

Explore the evidence

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