Koo is sparing no effort in a bid to draw level with the colossal user base of Twitter in India. Here’s how it plans to do this. If things go as planned, Koo could surpass the social media giant’s user base in India. This could take only about 12 months. Elon Musk recently dropped the idea of purchasing Twitter. Now, Koo could cash in on the buzz. Koo plans to lure more Twitter users in India to join its platform. Notably, it wants to overtake Twitter’s user base in the country within a year. India’s homegrown microblogging platform started back in March 2020.
Since its debut, 30 million people have downloaded Koo. There’s a 10 times growth in the last 12 months in terms of the user base. In an interview with PTI, Koo co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna discussed Koo’s future goals. Koo wants to surpass 100 million users by the end of this year. Interestingly, Musk had indicated that Twitter will have a whopping 931 million users by 2028. Now, a considerable number of these users could be from India.
Koo Planning To Surpass Twitter In India
Koo is currently available in the country in 10 languages including English. Aside from this, the platform is operating in Nigeria. Also, it aims at expanding to other multilingual countries. Indonesia will be one of its priority nations in terms of overseas expansion. Further, Radhakrishna said Koo has already raised $45 million (about INR 350 crore). He said Koo will “revisit funding plans” before the year ends. Moreover, Koo is planning to add various monetization options.
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These changes could arrive in the next couple of years. Currently, Koo has 7-8 million monthly active users, Radhakrishna told PTI. Now, the platform is predicting 100 million downloads before 2022 ends. Koo has a more non-English user base in India than Twitter. So, the platform wants to tighten its grip on the domestic market. Koo wants to become India’s largest microblogging platform. Radhakrishna believes this plan could take shape in the next 12 months.
Does Koo Stand A Chance At Luring Twitter’s Indian Users?
Koo has 80 percent of non-English users. The largest share belongs to Hindi microbloggers. Moreover, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and Kannada microbloggers use the platform. They are among Koo’s non-English user base. Radhakrishna addressed the impact of Musk’s Twitter takeover. He said the takeover is “an English-world phenomenon.” Further, he said there hasn’t been any effect of this on Koo.
Koo allows people to use their own language for communication. Further, he explained that Koo wants to earn the trust of the users. So, Koo has revealed the site’s algorithms to the public. Musk is planning to do the same if he purchases Twitter. Koo also enables users to self-verify. They can use their government identity documents for this. This encourages more genuine users to join the site.