Title: BuzzFeed launches its own 'public chat'
channel in messaging app Viber
Summary:
The upcoming online news site
BuzzFeed is entering a new area, with its new partner Viber in the messaging
niche. They are launching a public chat channel in Viber. They are planning to
use the BuzzFeed’s journalists so that they will post links to stories within
the channel and chip in to the discussion around them. It is already glamorised
by the fact that there are several celebrities, such as Pixie Lott and Paul van
Dyk, YouTuber Tyler Oakley and gossip blogger Perez Hilton, using the app that it
is assisting its growth and development.
Facts/Phrases:
Ø Viber
is owned by Japanese internet giant Rakuten, and which has more than 209
million monthly active users.
Ø “We’re
always looking for new channels to expand our reach and public chats is a great
opportunity to give Viber’s worldwide audience a way to discover and engage
with BuzzFeed’s latest news, lifestyle, and entertainment content,” said
BuzzFeed’s product lead for growth and data, Ben Ronne.
Ø In
October 2014, it inked a deal with Chinese messaging app WeChat, inviting
its 400 million-plus users to follow BuzzFeed’s account to be sent “one or two
of the most viral things on the web” each day.
Ø “Messaging
is the new social media,” claimed Union Square Ventures’ partner Fred Wilson
Opinion:
In my opinion, the fact that
BuzzFeed is in development similar to that of
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat has seen large levels of globalisation
being encapsulated in to Viber. This is just evidence how history repeats
itself, where BuzzFeed will be on top for a short term, claiming to be on the
top of the mountain until they begin to be replaced by a newer more digitised
applications, who knows there may be a convergence of WhatsApp and Viber.
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