Made In India Twitter Alternative Koo gets a big boost 10 months post-launch

In March 2020, Aparameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka started a Made In India Twitter alternative - Koo. The app has recently gained momentum as many Government officials, including Union Minister Piyush Goyal, have made the shift to Koo. Winner of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge, the Koo app, is available in 11 Indian languages. Further, like Twitter, it helps celebrities and others interact with local communities.

The founders have multiple times stated that only 10% of Indians speak English. Thus, there are about one hundred crore non-English speaking people in the vast population of the country. But, the founders suggest that these people definitely speak one of the hundreds of languages ​​in the country. Thus, with the access of the internet through smartphones, Koo gives these people freedom of expression in their mother tongue.

Why the massive shift from Twitter to Koo?

Currently, the Indian Government is in 'disagreement' with Twitter over banning several accounts. Koo, a proposed competitor to Twitter, has benefitted from the ongoing dispute. According to reports, the Indian government has asked Twitter to block 1,178+ accounts. However, the social media platform has not fully complied with the order by arguing that it is protecting its foundational principle of free expression.

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has already joined the platform. Shri Sadhguru, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, CN Ashwathnarayan, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Karnataka MP Tejasvi Surya, Ashutosh Rana, Ashish Vidyarthi and many IAS officers, actors, actresses and sports personalities have joined Koo which has over 10 lakhs users. Further, Republic TV is the top account on Koo.

The Indian App is only available to a select few countries. Many people on Twitter have complained that they haven't been able to download it, especially in the UK or EU due to GDPR. Although the startup is working on it, Indians will probably still use Twitter owing to its massive global userbase.

How to download the app?

Koo is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Users can download the social media app on their iPhone and Android devices. The app has an average rating of 4.7 stars on Google Play Store and 4.1 on the iOS App Store. On Android, the app has received over 49,400 reviews and over a million downloads.