Viber launches ‘Public
Chats’, which lets you read celebrity conversations
It seems to be app
revamp time in the mobile world, and the latest to join the list is Viber.
Viber, the popular
messenger app which had been bought over by Japanese
company Rakuten for $900 million earlier this year, has
launched a ‘Public Chats’ feature which allows users to browse through
celebrity conversations. With this new feature, users can go behind the scenes
with music, film, fashion, sports or whatever else you like.
TechCrunch reported that “Public Chats will see
the introduction of live conversation streams from celebrities. The company is
basically looking for people with interesting chats which could also include
bloggers or other popular personalities. This way, users can take a peek at what
celebrities are sharing with each other – be it pictures, videos or even
virtual stickers. CEO Talmon Marco said that Public Chats will be open for
any follower to see, but not necessarily participate in. Users will only be
able to jump in and talk in Public Chats if the account in question is in their
contacts.”
The initial users of
the new service include blogger Perez Hilton, the D.J. Paul van Dyk, European
football channel COPA90 and the Next Model Management modeling agency. It will
be available to other users over time.
This way, Viber will
be hoping to set itself apart from other popular messenger apps like
WhatsApp, WeChat, and Line.
Wired reported that, “WhatsApp is by
far the most successful, with some 600 million monthly active users worldwide.
Viber, by contrast, has 210 million, which is why Marco, who sold the company
to Japanese internet company Rakuten is constantly on the lookout for features
that will encourage more users to switch platforms. Original content, he
believes, could do just that.”
Macro also shared the
news that the feature has only been optimized for Android devices first but
will work on other native Viber apps, versions 5.0 or higher.
Viber has also launched a separate
Public Chats website to
promote the new feature