People are calling the homegrown app – Koo as the Twitter alternative in India. Since its launch in 2020, Koo has shown incredible growth. Recently, the app also announced its intentions to publish all the workings behind its core algorithms.
This means users of Koo can now see exactly how and why a user sees the content that they do. According to reports, the move is going to not only create a total environment of transparency but is also empowering for its users.
It comes as a pleasant surprise when social media giants are being investigated for manipulating user content visibility.
So what is Koo? And how can your small business benefit from this platform? Let’s dive in.
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Koo as a Twitter alternative in India
Koo is a homegrown social media platform for microblogging. A winner of the Aatmanirbhar Innovation challenge in 2020, the app has been made by Indians for Indians!
Founders Mayank Bidawatka and Aparmeya Radhakrishna launched this platform to encourage conversations between Indians on interesting themes and topics and to stay updated on current events.
This app has seen promotions and praises from influential political leaders to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself. Similar to Twitter, there are multiple government departments that are getting verified on this platform.
What truly sets Koo Apart from the global microblogging site – Twitter? Well, if Twitter is ONLY for English users, Koo has space for vernacular languages.
“English is spoken by only 20% of the world – 80% of the world does not speak English,” he adds. “That entire market is open to us.”- Mayank Bidawatka
This platform is giving an opportunity to different communities to engage in Indic languages. If Twitter held English as a barrier, Koo is being seen as a democratic and accessible social media app for all.
Why are people hesitant?
Considering Koo became popular at the height of a political scuffle between Indian leaders and Twitter leaders, Koo is yet to be embraced by users with diverse political views. The Koo is yet to succeed. (Coup – Koo, get it?)
Koo is also currently in the process of moderating content like hate speech and discriminatory content on its platforms. Something that Twitter also faces frequent issues with.
The platform is still in its developing stages, but its attempt to bring microblogging to non-English speakers has made it an attractive option for a lot of Indians.
“In our case, most of our local language users have never used a microblogging app ever before. Their first tryst with freedom of expression is with Koo. That is our demography. And that demography will remain loyal to Koo,” – Mayank Bidawatka
Advantages of Koo for Indian SMEs
In the two years of its activity, Koo is already valued at over $100 million. In India, Twitter has a user base of 25 million. Koo has been chasing twitter on its heels and has touched 20 million downloads at the end of 2021.
On Koo, you have the option of using 10 different languages, and by the end of this year, the founders are hoping to expand to all 22 official languages of India.
With social commerce taking over India like a storm, another platform that helps connect vernacular speakers to each other is a brilliant business opportunity. In 2021 itself, Koo saw an over 20 fold rise in its daily users.
And recently, in February 2022, Koo raised around ₹79 crores from investors like Caspier Venture Partner, Ashneer Grover and the Ravi Modi Family Trust.
Koo provides entrepreneurs with a wider customer base and helps them expand their business even further into tier 2 or tier 3 cities – where English is not the predominant language of communication.
Create your own online store on another homegrown platform – Instamojo. You can easily share product links, or the store link on Koo or other social media platforms and reach more customers across the country!
1 comment
Good Article