Microblogging Site in India Koo App, Advantages and Features

New Microblogging Site in India -Ku Koo Ku -"Voice of India Koo App"

Twitter has taken the world of microblogging by storm. It has been immensely successful and popular in its endeavors to reach out to users on a large scale all over the world. Since Twitter has hit rough weather owing to its failure to comply with certain provisions of IT rule in India so there is a strong possibility that a lot of users will start looking for an alternative option. This is where Koo can fill the void, in case Twitter decides to quit the Indian market although the probability of such a scenario taking place is highly unlikely. Even then Koo is surely going to be an option worth trying. It would be able to woo a lot of users as well, as it has got its own merits & users will love using the services of Koo once they get exposed to it.

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India's very own microblogging site is Koo

India's very own microblogging site is Koo. For real-time exclusive & exciting updates, one can use it. Just like Twitter, one can use it for posting audio, video's & photo's on this platform. You can also conduct polls on this microblogging site. The majority of the people are either not having sufficient knowledge or are not aware of the presence of such a microblogging site. This trend of course will change. Koo App is no doubt beneficial from the user's point of view especially for domestic users and has the potential to serve foreign users so it is likely to make a strong impact.

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This article will enrich you and provide you plenty of unknown information about this microblogging site called as Koo. Stick around till the end of this article. You will get to know more enthralling facts about Koo which is equally potent when compared to Twitter. It won't be an overstatement to say,  that  Koo is an Indian version of Twitter. India's counter or reply to Twitter is Koo App.

Background of Ku Koo Ku

Koo is based in Bangalore. Formerly known as Ku Koo Ku.  This app was developed by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka.  Aprameya Radhakrishna had even founded the online cab booking service " Taxi for sure" which was subsequently sold to Ola Cabs. A lot of readers will be astonished to know, that Koo won the Government of India's Aatmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in August 2020. Its current valuation is at over $100 million. A lot of exciting points are there related to Koo which must be brought to the public domain or highlighted so that the users will come to know more about these intriguing facts.

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Koo emanated first up in the Kannada language. Subsequently, it incorporated and started supporting Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese & Marathi. So you can easily judge and figure out, the kind of variety it brings to the table in terms of language preferences. This is not the end of it. It has got big plans for the future. It is planning to launch and offer services in Bengali, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Konkani, Nepali, Odia, Malayalam, Meitei & Urdu. It's still early days for Koo, but is surely promising enough. The Prime Minister of India, Shree Narendra Modi in his speech "Mann ki Baat" address also mentioned about Koo App.

Venture capital firms such as Tiger Global, Kalaari Capital, and IIFL have invested in the app Shunwei Capital sold its whole stake in Koo by March 2021. 

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In February 2021, a cybersecurity expert made an allegation about  data breach on the part of Koo, although it has been outright rejected by Koo. Koo has categorically refused and denied any such breach.

Let's make an analysis and compare the current status of Koo and Twitter based on the background of recent development  The current status will help us to analyze the position of both. If the stats offered by Sensor Tower (analytics provider)  is something to go by then we will find that Koo was installed by 2.6 million users from Indian app stores in 2020 while during the same period Twitter was installed by 28 million users. 

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We would also like to state that there has been a twist in the tale off late. If we consider the data during the period February 6th to February 11th, we will be taken aback. The reason being during this period there has been a sudden surge in Koo's user base. It happened primarily because Twitter has decided to go into a tussle or friction with the Government of India. It has breached certain norms or not accepted certain terms which didn't go down well with the Indian establishment. 

Twitter has refused to block certain accounts. It is believed that these accounts were opened up to spread misinformation and misguide society during farmers' protests. Such malicious practices or accounts cannot be allowed to operate without any scrutiny. There is a need to keep a tab on such accounts. Owing to these standoffs Koo has gained more preference and popularity.  Certain cabinet ministers of India have joined Koo post this incident including certain heavyweights like Shree Piyush Goyal. Many Government officials have followed suit. India's IT minister, Shree Ravi Shankar Prasad has become the first user having one million followers on Koo.

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MP, Mr Tejasvi Surya, CM of Karnataka, Mr B.S. Yediyurappa, Former cricketer, Javagal Srinath & Anil Kumble are some famous personalities found on Koo App.

Certain Government departments like IT Ministry, Indian Post & Niti Aayog have an account on Koo App.

As they say, somebody's loss is somebody's gain. Twitter has invited trouble by its non-compliance with certain provisions recommended by the Government of India in relation to its IT Act.

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From a business point of view, this has been a blessing in disguise as far as Koo is concerned. 

Koo surely is appealing enough especially for its capacity to offer services in regional languages. Every user may not be comfortable to opine and express views on important issues in English Language. Koo engulfs a large number of Indian regional languages which is a matter of great convenience for a lot of users.  Twitter has redesigned its website to localize content in seven languages however, with Koo, it's far larger, as it incorporates a lot of regional languages and more is in the pipeline. The range of Koo seems much broader in this regard.

Another significant development observed in relation to Koo off late has been its entry into Nigeria since Twitter has been banned indefinitely by the Nigerian Government so it has created more space for Koo to operate in Nigeria. In times ahead, Koo may be considered as a viable option in other foreign territories as well. It has undoubtedly a lot of potential & prospects to be considered as a strong contender as a market player. It would be equally keen to spread its wings both in India and abroad.

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Advantages of Koo & Features-Interface

In this paragraph let's try to weigh and judge the formats, features, and interface of Koo and see whether there is any similarity with Twitter. 

• Yes, there seems to be a large degree of similarity in this context. Just like Twitter, Koo's interface also works on a similar model whereby users can categorize their posts with hashtags - words or phrases prefixed with a "#" sign. There is another prominent similarity between these two microblogging site & that is the fact that the "@" sign followed by a username is used for mentioning or replying to other users. So you can observe, lot of similarities between these two microblogging sites. The interface of Koo is yellow & white.

• Another striking feature introduced by Koo has been a feature called " Talk to Type". This feature will enable the users to write a post by talking using the app's voice assistant. This feature will be made available in all languages supported by the app. This clearly goes on to reflect it is getting bigger and better. It is incorporating new innovative methodologies to influence the users to avail the services extended by Koo which augurs well for the future of Koo and will simultaneously offer another platform and alternative option to users.

• It is imperative to incorporate the fact, that Koo is available on both iOS & Android platforms. The registration process is very easy for users in Koo. 

• Another commendable aspect of Koo has been that it lets you edit, called "Edit your Koo". This advantage is not available with Twitter. In Twitter, if you wrongly post a tweet then you won't be able to edit it rather you will be required to delete the same & re-post it.

• On verifying an account, Koo gives a Yellow Tick. This yellow tick signifies that the concerned account has been verified. The onus of verification of the various accounts is on the verification team of Koo.

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Conclusion

This article has demonstrated that Koo is slowly, but surely penetrating into the Indian market and has also started its operation in Nigeria. It's always good to have healthy competition in the marketplace, as it is in the interest of the consumers. Therefore, the emergence of Koo is a welcome step. The more options users can avail, the better it is. Koo has been adding new features and facilities to make it look more appealing and is making all the right moves. Its presence will add new dimensions to social networking sites. Let's hope, it will keep getting better by upgrading its services.

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