Even since the Prime Minister of India ‘Shri Narendra Modi’ kickstarted ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge‘, and Ban Chinese Apps campaign, we’ve seen the rise of Made in India Apps like:
- Chingari – Original Indian Short Video App
- Zoho Workplace & Cliq
- Logically – Check Fake News and Verify Facts
- World Cricket Championship-2
- Hello English – Learn English
- Myitreturn
- YourQuote – India’s largest Writing App
Now, the one app that has caught the eyes of millennials is KOO App.
After Tooter, KOO is touted as an Indian Alternative to Twitter, and as soon as prominent Government officials & departments started to set up their account in the Made in India app, #kooapp started trending on Twitter. Look at it:
OUCH!🔥
That’s ironic. Isn’t it?
Now, going ahead in this post, I’ll share….
- The story of the Koo App. How it rose to prominence?
- Which prominent accounts are there on Koo App?
- The reason behind the sudden rise in app’s popularity.
- The procedure to apply for a Verified Account.
Koo App – Introduction
Koo is a Personal Updates and Opinion sharing micro-blogging platform. You can indulge yourself in discussing the topics based on your interest. Not only this, the Koo app enables you to share your thoughts with a firmly knit Indian Community in your mothers’ tongue. This is all you can do on Koo:
- Discuss your opinion on any topic in 6 available languages
- Follow Activists, Actors / Actresses, Bollywood artists, Cricketers, Journalists, Politicians, and other interesting people
- Share your opinions/updates.
- Trending Hashtags.
- View the latest updates of the people you’re following in your regional language.
How did Koo rise to prominence?
Koo was first launched in early 2020. It came to the limelight after participating and winning the government’s Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge along with 23 other Made in India apps in August 2020. At that time, the Government was hell-bent on banning Chinese apps citing national security concerns.
The similar faceoffs between India-China led to the outcome of the Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge. And in his monthly Mann KI Baat address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mentioned the name of all the 24 winners.
WHY INDIAN MINISTERS ARE MOVING FROM TWITTER TO KOO?
Recently, MeitY (The Ministry of Electronics and IT) and some high-profile government officials and departments have set up their accounts on India’s micro-blogging app.
But why NOW?
Well, this happened after Twitter didn’t comply with the government’s order to block certain Twitter accounts & tweets.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT’s move to joining the Koo app has led to:
Central Board of Indirect Taxes, Common Services Centre, Customs (CBIC), Digi Locker, Digital India, India Post, MyGov, National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and UMANG app joining its platform.
Hence, explaining the sudden surge in the number of downloads.
In the light of recent events, this move by MeitY can be considered as a strategic response to Twitter for not complying with the order of blocking around 257 Twitter accounts and Tweets concerning farmer genocide.
MeitY sent out a notice to block 257 URLs (web addresses) and a particular hashtag for spreading false information concerning the ongoing farmer protest in the National Capital, Delhi.
However, instead of taking quick action, Twitter took one full day to block the URLs only to unblock them a few hours later.
This decision by Twitter wasn’t well-received by the Indian Government & they have even issued a fresh notice to Twitter for compliance. In its response, Twitter explained its firm stand with a blog post.
After this blog post, MeitY responded to their displeasure in this tweet:
Upon the request of Twitter seeking a meeting with the Govt., the Secretary IT was to engage with senior management of Twitter. In this light a blog post published prior to this engagement is unusual. Govt. will share its response soon.
— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) February 10, 2021
And soon Meity urged everyone to follow their official account on the Indian-made Koo App.
Download Latest Koo App
Koo App is available to download on your Android & iOS smartphone. Here’s the live download link:
My Thoughts
- By the Indians.
- For the Indians.
to share their personal views & indulge in meaningful discussions. All this in their mother tongue. At the moment, the Koo App supports these 6 languages:
- Hindi
- English
- Kannada
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Marathi
And the support for 12 more languages is on its way. Despite some expected bugs here & there, I’m looking forward to seeing how far this app goes in the future.
That’s all for now. What do you think of the KOO app? Do you like it or not? Whatever it is, do share your views in the comments section given below.
