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`Guide to Chat Apps - Columbia Journalism Review
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`Guide to Chat Apps
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`Image: Getty
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`Executive Summary | IntroductionzThe Dawn of the Social Messaging Era | Key Players and Case
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`Studies | Conclusion | Further Reading | Glossary | Interviewees | Citations
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`Executive Summary
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`Messaging apps now have more global users than traditional social networks—which means they will
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`play an increasingly important role in the distribution of digital journalism in the future. While chat
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`platforms initially rose to prominence by offering a low-cost, web -based alternative to SMS, over
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`time they evolved into multimedia hubs that support photos, Videos, games, payments, and more.
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`While many news organizations don’t yet use messaging apps, digitally savvy outlets like BuzzFeed,
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`Mashable, The Huflington Post, and VICE have accompanied a more traditional player in BBC News
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`by establishing a presence on a number of these platforms.
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`To complement our research, we interviewed leadership at multiple news outlets and chat platforms,
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`thereby synthesizing key lessons and presenting notable case studies reflecting the variety of
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`creative and strategic work taking place within the messaging space. Most publisher efforts around
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`messaging apps are still in a formative, experimental stage, but even those have often proven
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`effective in diversifying traffic sources for digital content.
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`Drawing upon our interviews and case studies, we identify a number of opportunities and challenges
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`for organizations using—or hoping to use—messaging apps for news. We argue that to devise a
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`successful messaging app strategy, publishers must understand regional strongholds, user
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`demographics, and popular features of each app. Advantages to the chat ecosystem include huge,
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`untapped audiences; high engagement through push notifications; unique products like stickers and
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`“chatbots” (see glossary for definitions); and the opportunity to build community through chat
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`rooms and crowdsourced storytelling. Meanwhile, challenges include limited analytics tools and a
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`fragmented social landscape boasting roughly a dozen messaging apps, each with over 50 million
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`registered users.
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`Our case studies illustrate a number of ways in which major news outlets have utilized various
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`messaging apps, each with its own niche characteristics. In the past two years, many platforms—
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`including Snapchat, Viber, Kik, LINE, WeChat, and Telegram—introduced oflicial channels that
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`publishers like CNN, The New York Times, The Huflington Post, and Cliff Central now leverage for
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`content distribution and user engagement. Other players, like WhatsApp, have no ofl‘icial offering for
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`media owners, but this has not deterred organizations—most notably the BBC—from launching
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`experimental campaigns.
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`'—
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`Our research indicates that one of the greatest benefits of chat apps is the opportunity to use these
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`platforms as live, sandbox environments. The chance to play and iterate has helped several news
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`organizations develop mobile-first content and experiential offerings that would have proved
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`diflicult in other digital environments. As these services primarily—and in some cases exclusively—
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`exist on mobile phones, editorial teams have learned to focus purely on the mobile experience,
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`freeing themselves from considerations about how content will appear on desktop websites or other
`broadcast mediums.
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`As happened after the early days of social media, before which a proliferation of services (some with
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`regional strengths) led to intense competition for user attention, we expect to see some eventual
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`consolidation among chat apps. While Facebook Messenger and Skype do not garner much focus in
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`this report, we believe they could become significant players in this space over the coming year as
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`they figure out the right proposition for their platforms to partner with media organizations.
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`Elsewhere, we conclude that issues around information, privacy, personal security, and mobile data
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`penetration will unfold in different ways around the world; apps like Telegram and FireChat are
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`among those at the forefront of addressing and solving these problems. They, in conjunction with
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`similar applications, are likely to see an increase in user uptake as they meet needs that other major
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`chat apps are unable to serve.
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`In developing editorial strategies for some of these wide-ranging messaging platforms, news
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`organizations are not just helping to future-proof themselves, they are also venturing into online
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`spaces that could enable them to reach hundreds of millions of (often young) people with whom they
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`have never engaged before.
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`Key Observations
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`The key findings of this report can be summarized as follows: Messaging apps offer strong
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`opportunities to engage new or difficult-to-reach demographics. For example, Snapchat, a very
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`popular app among millennials, has been credited with engaging and informing young audiences on
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`complex issues like the Iran nuclear deal.
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`Innovations such as bespoke (or customized) stickers and emojis can help news outlets quickly build
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`significant audiences via messaging apps.
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`Messaging apps enable news outlets to gather (potentially exclusive) user-generated content and can
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`become a major source during breaking news situations (e.g., as in the BBC’s coverage of the second
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`Nepal earthquake in 20 1 5) .
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`News outlets may need to experiment with a variety of chat apps to decipher which content type best
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`suits the audiences of each app. BuzzFeed, for example, had considerably more success using LINE
`for soft news than for hard news.
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`Messaging apps can provide unique opportunities for giving audiences direct access to content and
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`publishers, be it through tailormade WeChat platforms (Cliff Central) or Public Chats on Viber (The
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`Huflington Post).
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`Messaging apps provide a space for news outlets to engage their audiences with different—possibly
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`lighter—types of content (e.g., The Washington Post has used Kik to distribute games, quizzes, and
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`chat adventures).
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`Even apps that are not as geared toward publishing as some of their competitors, such as WhatsApp,
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`hold great potential for news outlets if used strategically.
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`Messaging apps not only facilitate communication with eyewitnesses in areas where other forms of
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`communication aren’t functioning (e.g., during extreme weather conditions), they can also provide a
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`platform for people who don’t feel safe speaking on the telephone. Additionally, apps such as
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`Telegram focus strongly on encryption and security.
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`Messaging apps are not used solely to drive traflic to websites (e.g., BuzzFeed is using LINE as part of
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`a more distributed strategy and aims to provide as much information as possible inside the app,
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`rather than direct users to its website).
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`When sourcing user-generated content, apps like WhatsApp, which are tied to a user’s phone
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`number, can significantly speed up the verification process as they provide a direct line to the content
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`creator/eyewitness.
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`Messaging apps are relatively new and evolving at a rapid pace. Consequently, many news outlets are
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`still in the process of establishing strategies to best utilize these platforms.
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`There is emerging evidence that messaging apps may drive trafl‘ic back to outlets’ other, more
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`traditional platforms (e.g., CNN’s Snapchat Discover drove people to seek out longer-form content
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`on CNN’s TV news channel).
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`PDFs and printed copies of this report are available on the Tow Center’s Gitbook page
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`(https://www.gitbook.com/book/towcenter/guide-to-chat-apps/details).
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`Introduction: The Dawn of the Social Messaging Era
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`“The social media phase of the Internet ended,” declared Fred Wilson—a leading venture capitalist
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`and early investor in Twitter, Foursquare, and Tumblr—in his 2014 “What Just Happened?” year-in-
`reView. He continued:
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`Entrepreneurs and developers still build social applications. We still use them. But there isn’t much
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`innovation here anymore...messaging is the new social media...families use WhatsApp groups instead
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`ofFacebook. Kids use Snapchat instead ofInstagram. Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in
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`February ofthisyear was the transaction that defined this trend.1
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`Messaging Apps Have Caught Up To Social Networks
`Month/y Active Users For Selected Top 4 Social Networks ‘ Arid Mesogging Apps‘ ‘
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`
`l
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`While Wilson’s views may be surprising to some, statistics support them. Business Insider
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`Intelligence released an infographic in April titled “Messaging Apps Have Caught Up to Social
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`Networks,” indicating that major chat apps (WeChat, Viber, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger)
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`now have more combined users than the top social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and
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`Instagram).2 And according to Mary Meeker’s “Internet Trends 2015” report, messaging apps make
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`up 60 percent of the top 10 global apps by both usage and number of sessions.3 Like any presumed
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`overnight success, WhatsApp’s rise was actually part of a broader movement that took years to
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`coalesce within a zeitgeist moment. Facebook’s $22-billion purchase of the app merely marked the
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`day that everyone, even those with limited interest in technology, learned that the era of social
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`messaging had arrived.
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`Any user now downloading the world’s 10 biggest chat apps for the first time may be struck by their
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`similarities. Dig deeper into their histories, though, and you’ll see that each company conquered the
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`globe with one unique, core innovation before incorporating some of its competitors’ strongest ideas:
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`LINE popularized stickers, Viber perfected free mobile calling, Snapchat invented ephemeral
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`messaging, Kik pioneered mobile chat anonymity, Telegram supplied chat encryption, Tango
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`delivered mobile Video chat, WhatsApp introduced the simplicity of free texting, and WeChat
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`created the messaging app as mobile web portal. Facebook Messenger, for its part, forged an
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`amalgam of all those apps, and now looks to differentiate itself with the introduction of M, an
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`artificial intelligence chat assistant.
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`Objectives and Methods
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`In this guide, we explore the critical role chat apps can play in the distribution of digital ournalism
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`today and in the years ahead. As mobile traffic and referrals from social platforms continue to grow
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`for the majority of news organizations, chat apps present a profound opportunity for audience
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`development and engagement.
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`According to Pew Research Center’s “State of the News Media 201 5 ” report, 78 percent of the top
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`50 digital news websites receive more visits from mobile devices than desktop computers. And
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`analytics firm Parse.ly, which delivers audience insights to over 400 news organizations including
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`Wired, The Atlantic, and Reuters, claims 43 percent of referrals to its publisher network now come
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`from social media (outpacing search at 38 percent).
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`Messaging has emerged as the new frontier of social on mobile, and the sheer size of audiences on
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`the top global chat apps is too big to ignore. These apps also present an opportunity to diversify
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`mobile traffic sources and to minimize vulnerability should Facebook or other platforms decrease
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`traffic for publishers.
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`For our research, we conducted interviews with leadership at numerous major messaging app
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`companies, as well as early-adopter news organizations. We selected companies and case studies
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`that demonstrate the diversity of opportunities within the ecosystem, while also highlighting the
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`uniqueness of each chat app platform.
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`While publishers generally indicated optimism and excitement for their work on chat apps, nearly all
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`pointed out that as an industry we are still in an early, exploratory phase. Most major chat apps spent
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`the last few years perfecting their user experience, only recently turning their attention to media-
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`owner partnerships. With that in mind, we urge readers to not only learn from the case studies
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`presented, but also to initiate experiments of their own to find the right strategy for any editorial
`team.
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`A Brief History of Chat Apps
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`Modern instant messaging and SMS both began their march to prominence in the early and mid-
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`19908. The difference between the two is subtle: SMS (the acronym for “short service message”)
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`allows mobile phone users to send each other text messages without an Internet connection,
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`whereas instant messaging enables similar functionality via the web. The first SMS message was sent
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`over the Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom on December 3, 1992, with the words
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`“Merry Christmas.” Israeli firm Mirabilis released the first widely used online messenger, ICQ (short
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`for “1 Seek You”), in 1996.
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`Precursors to ICQ date as far back as 1961 when MIT’s Computation Center built the Compatible
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`Time Sharing System (CTSS), allowing up to 30 users to log-in concurrently and share text messages.
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`CompuServe’s CB Simulator, released in 1980, is generally recognized as the first dedicated online
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`chat service; it required users to pay monthly fees for membership.
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`In 1985, Commodore launched Quantum Link (or “Q-Link”), an online service for Commodore 64
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`and 128 that enabled multi-person chat, file sharing, electronic email, games, and news Via modem
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`connection. Quantum Link changed its name to America Online (AOL) in 1991, and by the mid—90$
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`was the leading US. Internet service provider and portal to the web.
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`The company launched AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) in 1997 and purchased competitor ICQ in
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`1998 to consolidate its primacy over instant messaging. Along with a few competitors, it also
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`pioneered chat robots like StudyBuddy and SmarterChild that provided information and played
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`games with users.
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`In 2006, AIM controlled 52 percent of the instant messaging market, but it struggled to monetize
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`and went into rapid decline in the face of competition from services like Google Talk, Yahoo! Chat,
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`MSN Messenger, and Skype. The growing popularity of BlackBerry Messenger in the late 20008 also
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`pointed to a bright future for mobile messaging.
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`By the time mobile chat apps like WhatsApp and Kik arrived in 2009, SMS was king. Mobile texting
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`became a key mode of global, personal communication, earning billions of dollars for
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`telecommunications companies.
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`But time and technology did not prove kind to telephone-service companies. As smartphones began
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`to proliferate, messaging apps were an increasingly accessible solution to a simple problem: SMS is
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`expensive in most countries, so why not text or call much more cheaply, or for free, Via the mobile
`web?
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`SMS volume peaked in 2012, and chat apps surpassed SMS in global message volume for the first
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`time in 201 3 .4 By January 2015, WhatsApp alone hosted 30 billion messages per day compared to
`about 20 billion for SMS.5
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`As Wi—Fi and high-speed mobile networks hit critical mass in many markets, chat apps quickly
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`became multimedia hubs where users could easily share videos, photos, stickers, games, articles, live
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`streams, and more. Between 2013 and 2014, many messengers turned their attention to monetizing
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`their massive audiences, and in doing so introduced tools for publishers and brands.
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`Facebook: A Company Reinvented for the Messaging Era
`
`Charting Fucebook's Rapid
`Reinvention at The End of
`
`the Social Networking Era
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`Facebook Now Has More Accounls On
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`Chm Apps Than On its Social Network.
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`[Tail-d b,- Elgc': ("C/l]; and lilfllfljlflllfi‘
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`(http://cjrarchive.org/img/posts/tow—content/uploads/2 01 5/1 1/CHATAPPS_Page 9_Graph- 1.png)
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`With a mix of foresight and irony, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has done more than most to
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`close the era of social networking and usher in one of social messaging. In 2014, he placed two
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`massive bets on messaging: a $22-billion purchase of the world’s leading chat app, WhatsApp, and a
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`new requirement that Facebook users download a standalone Messenger app to converse with
`friends.
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`By September 2015, WhatsApp and Messenger had 1.6 billion active, monthly accounts combined—
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`outpacing Facebook’s 1.49 billion active, monthly accounts. The company also launched an open
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`API for Messenger, encouraging developers and publishers to build custom apps for the ecosystem. It
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`simultaneously began beta testing Businesses on Messenger, a tool facilitating e-commerce and
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`customer support. In August 2015, Instagram, another of Facebook’s acquisitions, launched
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`enhanced one-to-one messaging—encouraging users to share photos and Videos from the news feed
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`within private chats.
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`A Flow from East to West
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`Despite the boldness of Zuckerberg’s repositioning, Facebook was responding to trends more than
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`shaping them. A large swath of chat app innovation continues to originate in Asia on platforms like
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`WeChat and LINE, and Western apps often appropriate those platforms’ best products.
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`WeChat, in particular, has a monolithic presence in China reminiscent of late 19905 Internet portals
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`like AOL and Yahoo (with a modern mobile twist). Users not only talk to friends and consume news
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`on the app, but also make purchases, pay utility bills, book taxis and doctors appointments, enroll in
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`brand loyalty programs, monitor traffic and air pollution, and report incidents to the police.
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`That dominance of the mobile web in countries like China might not be as likely in other markets,
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`but it has served as inspiration for ambitious Western chat apps plotting roadmaps for growth and
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`monetization. Like WeChat, Japan’s LINE is also incredibly advanced in its product offerings,
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`grossing $65 6 million in revenue in 2014. By contrast, while leading Western messenger apps may
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`boast multibillion-dollar valuations, they often have profit and loss sheets in the red.
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`Time will tell if the same winning strategies will work halfway around the world. But for news
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`organizations in North America and Europe looking for a glimpse of how the market may look in one
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`to two years, downloading WeChat and LINE is the best place to start.
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`Regional and Demographic Strongholds
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`When devising your own strategy for messaging apps, it’s vital to select the right platform mix for
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`your organization, based on three core criteria:
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`Regional Strongholds: Only a small group of apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Viber
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`can be said to be truly global—and even those platforms struggle in certain countries. Meanwhile,
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`messengers like WeChat, LINE, and KakaoTalk completely dominate specific markets but have
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`negligible traction in others.
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`Demographics: It’s a common misconception that messaging apps are a uniformly millennial
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`phenomenon. Some apps like Snapchat and LINE skew both young and female, but others like Tango
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`(which boasts 100 million monthly, active users, by our estimate) predominantly appeal to those
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`aged 2 5—54 and strongly over-index with Hispanic and African-American users.
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`Product Features: If your primary goal is to drive traffic directly back to your website, that won’t be
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`possible with apps like Snapchat that don’t support clickable URL links. And if you want to launch a
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`sticker/emoji-pack campaign, LINE and Viber are great options, but you can rule out both WhatsApp
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`and Snapchat. Each app has a particular set of features, so make sure to choose one that supports the
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`activation you have in mind.
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`Industry Challenges
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`Fragmentation: The social media landscape is entering a period of hyper-fragmentation that may
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`be a challenge to publishers: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram continue to loom large, but social
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`media managers can now launch official channels on roughly 10 chat apps with over 50 million
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`monthly, active users each.BuzzFeed, a perennial innovator in digital audience development,
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`provides a great example of what it looks like to be on nearly all of these platforms. Starting with the
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`launch of a share-to-WhatsApp button on mobile in February 2014, BuzzFeed has also built an
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`ofl‘icial presence on seven additional major messengers, as seen in the timeline below.
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`Analytics: For organizations accustomed to robust, real-time data, the lack of good analytics tools
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`for messaging apps remains a major deterrent to adoption. The challenge is twofold: Strong analytics
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`dashboards take time to build, and many messengers are privacy-centric by nature.The latter issue
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`has led to an existential crisis for apps keen to remain true to their roots while also attracting brands
`
`and appeasing investors. To the far left, companies like WhatsApp and Telegram have made public
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`promises to shun personal data collection and advertising. Closer to center, Snapchat and Kik collect
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`basic information like age and location for ad targeting, but denounce “creepy,” hyper—targeted ads.
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`Other platforms like Pinger seem more inclined to offer rich data collection and hyper-targeting of
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`anonymized users. Specifically, Pinger leverages keyword data to let advertisers reach users based
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`on their interests.Still, in a landscape increasingly driven by programmatic ambitions and data-
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`centric decision making, chat apps currently deliver comparatively limited information in basic
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`dashboards, or in some cases Via analog reporting. Most are mobilizing to remedy the situation
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`quickly, and a host of third party services are also beginning to create dashboard solutions based on
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`the major apps’ willingness to grant API access.
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`Growing Pains: As messaging apps respond to the demands of spectacular growth, publisher
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`partners we’ve spoken to have at times found it difficult to get consistent support or answers to
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`questions about platform capabilities.Apps like Tango have also made large changes to their channel
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`format for publishers— starting with a news feed that helped drive traffic to content, but
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`transitioning to chat rooms geared toward discussion. While changes like this are understandable as
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`part of a process for looking to find experiences that resonate with users, the volatility can be
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`unsettling.0ther platforms like WhatsApp currently have little interest altogether in providing tools
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`for publishers. Their emphasis, for the time being, is purely on connecting users to friends and
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`family. And while this may not technically qualify as a growing pain, it certainly poses logistical
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`challenges for companies attempting to adapt the app to their needs.
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`Industry Opportunities
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`Higher Engagement: Since many chat apps provide publishers with push notifications or chatbot
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`experiences (programmable robots that converse with users—see glossary), they can deliver
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`significantly higher engagement rates than Facebook and Twitter. For example, LINE’s Euro-
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`Americas CEO Jeanie Han claims that 5 5 .8 percent of push notifications sent to followers of official
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`accounts are read.6 This advantage may erode from its current levels as new publishers compete for
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`attention on each platform, but message open rates are still likely to supersede social network news
`feeds.
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`Audience Development: With billions of active users across multiple major chat apps, publishers
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`have been successful in building large audiences fairly quickly on several platforms.
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`A Chance to Connect With Users in a New Way: Messaging apps offer a host of features not
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`unavailable on social networks or other platforms. Publishers can creatively leverage these tools to
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`tell stories in new ways. For example, Snapchat lets users write and draw on top of content from
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`publishers before sharing with friends. Companies like BuzzFeed are also experimenting with
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`publisher-branded emojis that followers use to enhance personal conversations on apps like LINE.
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`Building Community: Chat apps offer an opportunity for readers and Viewers to easily connect,
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`share, collaborate, and discuss a range of topics. Platforms like Kik and Tango, for example, let
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`companies host their own chat rooms where readers and viewers can meet and discuss topics of
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`interest. And Snapchat’s Live Stories allows people in a specific geolocation to contribute eyewitness
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`media to a crowdsourced Video piece the entire Snapchat community can View.
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`Key Players and Case Studies
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`For publishers acting as early adopters, 2014 and 2015 has been a period of great experimentation.
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`In addition to learning the strengths and weaknesses of various platforms, news organizations have
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`also explored different strategies for adapting their professional voice to an ecosystem filled with
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`emojis, stickers, games, memes, and more.
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`We’ve taken a look at some of the main messaging platforms and how news organizations use them.
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`LINE: Japanese Chat App Spins Fun Visuals into Big Profits
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`Audience: 2 1 1 million monthly, active users
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`Top Markets: Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Spain
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`Demographics: Majority aged 16—34 years
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`Key Features: Free to use; multimedia file-sharing capability; works across all major mobile phone
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`platforms and PCs; timeline news feed; official brand accounts with CMS and one daily push alert
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`limit; stickers, coupons and games for free and paid.
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`LINE (the official trademark is capitalized) is a Japanese messaging app initially created in response
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`to the Tokyo earthquake in 201 1 as a means for employees of parent company NHN Japan to stay in
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`touch. It was released to the public later in the year and experienced significant growth across the
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`country and in the region, particularly in Thailand, Taiwan, and Indonesia.
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`It stands out as the most profitable messaging app on the market, with a recent App Annie report
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`suggesting LINE as the most profitable of any app in June 2015.7 This is in large part due to its hugely
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`popular games and stickers market, which drive roughly 60 percent and 20 percent of revenue,
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`respectively. The company reported $656 million (JPY 86.3 billion) in gross revenue for 2014, far
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`outpacing its competitors.8
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`LINE has official accounts for brands and publishers, offering them a dedicated CMS browser to
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`create and manage daily push alerts and content on the account’s home feed.
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`BuzzFeed Builds LINE Audience with Push Notifications, Stickers, and Comics
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`BBC News and the The Wall Street Journal are among the news organizations that have a million-
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`plus subscribers to their LINE accounts, experimenting on different content models around Video
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`(BBC) and daily alerts and breaking news (The Wall Street Journal). BuzzFeed, a more recent entrant
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`to the platform, has taken a very different approach.
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`Bryant Hua, associate social media editor at BuzzFeed, explained the company’s thinking:
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`LINE is probably one ofthe most exciting messaging apps, becauseyou can send globalpush
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`messages, but there’s also afeed on the home channel thatyou can publish to. We were more able to
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`curate the channel in a BuzzFeed way. Comics are one ofthe big areas that we ’repushing into—we
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`have comics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—and this platform in particular seems to be a place
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`where the audience is reacting well to them.
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`LINE has its own web browser-based CMS and provides the ability to schedule posts, which makes
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`managing the account much more efiicient.
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`httpszllwww .cj r .org/tow_center_reports/gui de_to_chat_apps.php
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`The BuzzFeed channel rarely links back to its main website, a similar strategy that it employs on
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`social media platforms, too. Hua added: “We have a more distributed strategy in 2015 and we’re not
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`totally focused on driving traffic back to the site, so we provide as much information with the feed as
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`possible.”
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`One of the most effective ways to attract new subscribers on the platform (as is the case with several
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`other chat apps) is by using stickers. BuzzFeed debuted its own sticker set, enabling LINE users to
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`download them for free as long as they subscribed to the BuzzFeed channel. This helped BuzzFeed to
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`acquire a following of over 200,000 within a few months of launch.
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`«QAEM iii.
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`Add this friend. get this free!
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`LOL, OMS, CUTE and more with BuzzFeed? Fri-end
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`BuzzFeed 5; Official flittcciurit in get them! Available until
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`AtigtiSl‘ 211.2015.
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`(http://cjrarchive.org/img/posts/tow-content/uploads/ 201 5/1 1/CHATAPPS_Page15_BF2.png)
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`LINE also allows users to interact with content using emojis. Instead of clicking a “like” button, users
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`can choose from a selection of six different emojis to express how they feel about a story or piece of
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`content (Facebook began testing a similar approach called Reactions in October).9 Interactive polls
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`and a commenting system also let users respond in text and with stickers, which Hua said is a unique
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`way that LINE engages with audiences. A recent feature asked users to select the house from Harry
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`Potter’s Hogwarts which they most fit into; it was one of BuzzFeed’s most engaged posts since the
`channel launched.
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`---:.':.'--.- Hariznn LTE
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`1013? AM
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`BuzzFeed
`helung in?
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`Which Huwarts huuse du yuu
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`Which Huwarta house do you belong in'iI
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`(http://cjrarchive.org/img/posts/tow—content/uploads/2 01 5/1 1/CHATAPPS_Page 1 5_BF3 .png)
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`Hua openly admitted that hard news hasn’t particularly worked on the LINE channel—headline
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`bulletins from the news apps team haven’t generated much engagement like they do on some other
`social media channels.
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`The experience is in direct contrast with the LINE channels of BBC News and The Wall Street
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`journal. Both of these accounts passed the one—million-subscriber mark earlier this year. The
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`difference in how audiences engage with news on their channels, compared to that of Buzzfeed’s, is
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`potentially attributable to subscribers’ different expectations from the brands, with Buzzfeed more
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`typically offering large slices of humor and viral memes alongside some news content.
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`WeChat: China’s Tencent Reinvents the Web Portal for Mobile
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`Audience: 600 million monthly, active users
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`Top Markets: China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Ind