Now, micro-blog in Kannada with Koo, a Twitter-like Indian app

Made in India

Winning the Atmanirbhar Challenge, Koo, an Indian micro-blogging app on the lines of Twitter, is now gaining popularity with its vernacular focus. Many big names from Kannada are already on board arguably India's first language-based platform of its kind, as the app adds other Indian languages.

Launched in March this year as an answer to Chinese apps, Koo has cricketers Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan and other celebrities on its users' list. Currently available for Kannada and Hindi users, the app will soon add Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Oriya and Assamese to its language options.

Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Aprameya Radhakrishna, who had earlier sold cab aggregator TaxiForSure to Ola Cabs, said the Koo app is like Twitter, but not exactly.

As Aprameya explained to DH: "On Twitter, you will find it tough to find content from fellow Kannadigas. In Koo, they will show up first. Besides, you will be able to express only in Kannada."

The app allows users to follow people, share thoughts in audio, video, images, text or polls and chat with other users.

Unlike Twitter, Koo has a much higher character limit of 400 per post (called Koo, the sound of a bird). Since its launch, the app has recorded close to a million downloads, predominantly Android.

Koo has a personalised feed that lets users select the people to follow.

"The user is then shown content from the people they follow. It is a people-first platform that tries to bridge the gap of giving access to the 'Best of India' to the 'Rest of India'."

One of the three winners of the Atmanirbhar Challenge in the 'social media' category, the Koo app has another co-founder in Mayank Bidawatka, a serial entrepreneur. Before launching Koo, the duo had founded Vokal, an expert-based vernacular Q&A platform in Indian languages.

So, why go vernacular? A study by KPMG and Google had found that regional language users will account for nearly 75% of India's internet user base by 2021. Twitter does offer an option to tweet in Indian languages but does not filter content to help a Kannada or Hindi user to navigate and interact seamlessly.