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<ul><li>In 2020, Wattpad is looking at increasing its brand partnerships.</li><li>2019 saw it partner with T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing and Teach for India.</li><li>For Wattpad, the future goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’.</li></ul>For global writing community and multiplatform entertainment company Wattpad, 2019 was a year of many innovations and landmarks. Last year, Wattpad’s global community touched the 80 million mark, and Apple recognized the platform for driving the Storytelling App Trend of 2019. Wattpad also made a move towards helping writers earn money on the platform by introducing several new monetization initiatives like Wattpad Premium and Wattpad Paid Stories. In entertainment, Wattpad’s film ‘After’ won a People's Choice Award for Best Drama Film, three Teen Choice Awards, and became one of the top-grossing indie films of the year. Their Hulu show, ‘Light as a Feather’ received four Daytime Emmy nominations and a second season order. The Wattpad Studios team also signed a dozen international entertainment deals, forming new partnerships and developing projects with the biggest studios across Europe, Latin America as well as in South Asia. Globally, the platform has been working with brand partners like JC Penny, National Geographic, and T-Mobile. Closer home as well, 2019 saw Wattpad bring brand partners like Universal Music India, T-series, Gaana.com, Graphic India, Big Bang Music, Penguin India and Harper India on board. Come 2020, the platform aims at working with more brands, to build a stronger community of storytellers, while also giving advertisers an opportunity to target an engaged community of writers and readers. Wattpad’s India story In India, Wattpad introduced the <keyword id="7098442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad-India">Wattpad India</keyword> Awards in December 2019. Modelled on The Wattys, Wattpad’s annual global writing competition, the initiative is aimed at engaging with Wattpad’s growing community of readers and writers in India. Speaking about some of the other highlights from India, Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India said, “2019 was all about educating the market about the offerings of Wattpad. We parterned with schools, colleges, publication houses, trade bodies, production houses, music labels etc. We showcased a new way of connecting with your fans/audience through storytelling. In addition to digital contests, we also ran Masterclasses, Wattpad Campus Talks etc. to reach out to new users.” The platform also partnered with various brands like T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing, Teach for India, etc and is on the lookout for bringing more partners on board this year. How brand partners benefitted When used right, storytelling can be an important tool in engaging with audiences. And as more and more brands open up to this power of storytelling, it is expected that Wattpad will see more brand partnerships. Speaking about the opportunities that the platform offers for advertisers, Sharma said, “We are already deeply engaged with brands in India and around the world. With our combination of technology, community, engagement, and a built-in network of influencers, we transform the way brands connect with their audiences - particularly Gen Z - through stories. From video with best-in-class completion rates to branded content and native programs with Wattpad influencers, we tailor brand campaigns to find the best way to reach the right audiences. Wattpad Brand Partnerships aligns brands with stories that are unique, diverse, and have a massive built-in audience so that they can always reach the right consumers with content that is perfectly tailored for them.” Using a new-age platform like Wattpad also means that one has to come up with innovative ways of engagement, and that’s what a few partners tried to do. Gaurav Wadhwa, Founder, Big Bang Music (a JV of Kwan and Sony Music) said, “We've successfully worked on campaigns with WattPad - to combine music and it's expression at a time when nobody seems to be doing it. It's about moving beyond traditional streaming apps, but finding audiences that are still music-centric. Each song that we release through Big Bang Music is unique and WattPad gives us that edge to market these songs to a new audience.” Moreover, publishing houses find a direct connect with a platform like Wattpad. Speaking about how they gained from their recent partnership with the platform, Niti Kumar, Senior VP – Marketing, Digital &amp; Communications, Penguin Random House India said, “It’s been about a year since we have been collaborating with Wattpad to drive discoverability for our books and authors. We started a little cautiously but over time have seen great value online and offline through initiatives like campus events, online chats, contests and excerpt posting. There’s still a lot of potential that Wattpad has and we look forward to newer and better initiatives in 2020!” Wattpad’s vision for the future For Wattpad, the goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’. Throwing light on their goals ahead, Sharma added, “We are investing in India, growing our business and community in the market, and creating global opportunities for Indian storytellers. We’re helping writers all over the world build an audience and get discovered. Wattpad writers are already bestsellers. When you turn on the TV, go to a movie, or log in to your favourite streaming services, Wattpad’s insights could be behind the decisions that led to that project being green-lit. Soon you’ll see even more Wattpad stories on screens everywhere. India is home to some of the most creative storytellers on the planet, with the most exciting literary and entertainment sectors anywhere. We want to help more India Wattpad writers build a global audience, telling their stories to people around the world.” -- Wattpad is backed in India by Times Bridge, an investment arm of the Times Group

Wattpad: Empowering writers and connecting the world, one story at a time

<ul><li>Ad &amp; Media Insider’s latest property Storyline, brought to you in association with <keyword id="1959531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad" source="Orion">Wattpad</keyword>, one of the world’s most loved <keyword id="282281" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="storytelling" source="Orion">storytelling</keyword> platforms, endeavors to decode what storytelling stands for today.</li><li>Today, we bring you highlights from our fourth and fifth episodes where we discuss the changing role of <keyword id="35666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising" source="Orion">advertising</keyword> creatives, how brands are choosing to communicate with GenZs innovatively and what role a platform like Wattpad is playing in this innovation.</li><li>Watch <keyword id="3844857" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="harshad-rajadhyaksha" source="Orion">Harshad Rajadhyaksha</keyword> and <keyword id="3844858" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kainaz-karmakar" source="Orion">Kainaz Karmakar</keyword>, Chief Creative Officers, <keyword id="531122" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ogilvy-India" source="Orion">Ogilvy India</keyword> and <keyword id="3747310" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="devashish-sharma" source="Orion">Devashish Sharma</keyword>, Country Head, Wattpad India talk about the evolution of creativity and storytelling and how they are evolving as storytellers to tell successful stories in today's world.</li></ul>Episode 4: Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India Most of us have loved the work coming out of Ogilvy India in the last few years and the creative powerhouse between most of that work is Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, the Chief Creative Officers at the agency. The duo, along with Sukesh Nayak, Ogilvy India’s third CCO, have been at the forefront of crafting inimitable stories that have won our hearts while creating an impact. Be it the recent recreation of Cadbury Dairy Milk’s famous Cricket stadium ad, or its work for Hindustan Unilever titled ‘The Shower’ which won a National Award, Ogilvy has time and again proven the impact good storytelling can have in brand building and in making a brand a part of a consumer’s lives. In the 4th episode of Ad &amp; Media Insider’s Storyline, brought to you in association with Wattpad, one of the world’s most loved storytelling platforms, we spoke to Karmakar and Rajadhyaksha to understand their creative process and their thoughts on the evolution of storytelling and what the future holds. The evolution of storytelling We have seen the <keyword id="6354839" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing" source="Orion">marketing</keyword> landscape transform at a fairly rapid pace in the last 5 years. With more and more platforms cropping up, consumers are finding more places to express themselves, and brands are having to reach out to them at different touchpoints. What kind of impact has that had on the way Ogilvy has been telling stories? “Storytelling is as timeless as love or friendship, so I don't think it's going out of fashion anytime soon, or even later. But there has been a rapid transformation, especially in the last five years. I would not call it a change, rather, I feel there has been an expansion. Something fantastic has happened, media has become more open and liberalised and our first encounter with this happened back in 2015, when we did a campaign on zero budget to end open acid sale. We worked with like-minded people and with a real acid attack survivor. We shot the film. Had this been 20 years back, we would have had no place to show the film because media needed to be bought. It still needs to be bought but now there is also freedom to put out your own content. We put the film on YouTube and Facebook, promoted it ourselves, and the trajectory of the campaign has been astounding. It has won everything there is to be won, and we could achieve our goals with zero budgets and it was made possible largely by the changing nature of media,” said Karmakar. But does having a plethora of platforms pose the problem of plenty? Do creatives now have to think of communications suited for individual platforms? “Between Kainaz and I, we have spent around 20-25 years in advertising and we have ourselves evolved from the era of Print to Television. Then somewhere in the second decade, we started getting used to the concept of smartphones and multiple apps and hence multiple screens. But if your story is engaging with the relevant connect, the medium becomes secondary. Technology has put the spotlight on people who could all become storytellers, and brands saw people enjoying this content and slowly realized its power and thought of latching on to it. So, in terms of the number of mediums, I feel the more the merrier because today you just have a width and variety of storytelling,” explained Rajadhyaksha. From advertisers to product managers to solution finders With the evolution of media and advancement of technology, many brands are now also open to experimenting where, as a pat of a campaign, they have ended up creating a completely new product. In an attempt to encourage the habit of washing hands with soap among children in rural India, Ogilvy helped Savlon create special chalk sticks infused with soap. In another campaign to promote a similar habit, Ogilvy created a heat stamp to put on roti at the Maha Kumbh Mela for Lifebuoy. The brand’s message-on-a-roti ended up reaching over 5 million people. In both these campaigns, the idea led to the creation of a completely new product. Both these campaigns won awards and hearts. Is it challenging for agencies to then have clients come up to them and say they want to create a completely new product and take the business to a new trajectory? “It's not a stress at all. What I really love about the times that we work in is that our clients are super excited about doing work that is new and innovative. And that is something we should grab with both hands and make the most. I would be very worried if our clients weren't pushing us. The fact that they want different solutions, to use different media and support us, is a great sign. Recently, one of our teams has come up with a karaoke technique to help people with early Alzheimer's, in collaboration with MTV. So, the fact that clients are asking us to do such work and they are excited about it, is not a pressure but a thing of joy. The truth of the m after is we are actually becoming solution finders above and beyond just communicating a message. People are interacting, touching and feeling things beyond your client’s products, these are products made by you. They're actually getting to experience technologies that have been just ideas in your head and now we’re seeing them out there actually helping someone. It has also brought clients and agencies closer than before. It's a great time to be in the creative business,” said Karmakar. A message for marketers With the advent of Web 3.0 and us looking at a world where a metaverse might soon become a reality, things are changing at a rapid pace. What are a few things marketers should keep in mind to be able to navigate these highly dynamic times? “I feel no matter how much technology you have, or whatever new media comes in, the absence of a great idea means your money is not well spent. In fact, it's money wasted. So, first find yourself a partner who can give you a great idea, and then use your media, technology, etc, as partners to that. Do not work the other way around because everything starts with an idea and that is not going to change,” said Karmakar. Sharing his tip for marketers, hought, Rajadhyaksha added, “Completely well-meaning clients and brand custodians, at times, have brand guidelines about what the brand’s personality should be. But when it comes to exploring certain new-age things, treat your brand DNA and the personality of your brand like your family name, but treat the new media like the grandkids of the family. While they will bear your family name, allow them to be a little different, to take a few more risks. That's how I would encourage all clients to look at the newer mediums. You might be an 80-year-old legacy brand who advertises and talks in a certain way in your storytelling on TV. We aren’t saying become someone with a completely different personality on the newer mediums, but be a little adventurous and bolder and allow the younger kids in your organization and the agency to deviate a bit. Let them live their lives their way, as long as they still bear your family surname.” Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="1" status="LIVE | Join Kainaz Karmarkar (@spalifekainaz) and Harshad Rajadhyaksha (@Harsh_Words), CCOs, @Ogilvy_India as they… https://t.co/63l7yYar9K" createdat="1645702223000" id="1496809730655748100"></div> Episode 5: Devashish Sharma, Country Head, Wattpad India The art of storytelling has changed and new-age mediums like Wattpad are at the heart of this change. To understand the role Wattpad has been playing in this evolution of storytelling, we caught up with Devashish Sharma, Country Head, Wattpad India, who told us how consumers are using the platform, how that is helping brands connect with an engaged set of audience and what the future of storytelling could look like. From one-way communications to interactivity The biggest way in which storytelling has transformed in today’s digital era is by opening it up to consumers. In the TV and Radio era, a brand would come up with a one-way communication, which has undergone a complete transformation now. Explaining this evolution, Sharma said, “About 15-20 years back, a lot of brand building was one-way messaging. Brands would create something and then push it down to millions of Indians, predominantly TV or billboard. However, in the Internet era where the target audience has become younger, the focus of brands have shifted to digital platforms. And recently, it is also about interactive content. Today, brands don't just want to push their messaging, they want the audiences to create their viewpoint about the messaging and have a discussion with the brand about it. In lieu, it creates more awareness in a very interesting and exciting manner.” Communicating with GenZ With the younger generation which is difficult to please and said to have reduced attention spans, brands now have the task of finding innovative ways of engaging with them. Explaining how Wattpad has been building its communication to engage with this audience Sharma said, “If I were to look at it from a Wattpad lens, we are a very democratic platform where anybody can write on a topic they love, and at the same time, consume stories on a specific niche topic that might interest them. However, what differentiates us is the fact that the experience you get on our platform is not just of reading a book, it is also about connecting with other readers, leading to social engagement. Beyond this, the stories that become really popular and are highly engaging are taken on by production houses and top studios to turn into movies, TV shows, web series or other forms of digital entertainment. As a platform, being at the epicenter of ideas directly coming in from Gen Z storytellers allow us to really capture the right stories which we amplify.” Why long-form content works While there has been a debate for a long time around decreasing attention spans, Wattpad has been able to make long-form content, and has held its audiences captive with engaging stories on its platform. So what is it that Wattpad has gotten right? “Personally, I feel that the idea that people have less attention span is a bit of a misnomer. It might be true in certain contexts, but given the right content in the right format, people definitely make time to consume it. If a certain content captures your interest group and the experience of consuming it is something that you really enjoy, people will definitely prefer long- form content because it adds meaning and gives you much more than just snacking on punchlines,” explained Sharma. There has also been an ongoing debate about whether the younger population reads at all. However, the fact that Wattpad has a community of about 94 million readers and writers on its platform proves that given the right content and right amount of social engagement, people will stay on the platform and consume content, added Sharma. “The entire social element really elevates the user experience because we are able to give our audiences the liberty of connecting with the creator of the content and also other readers who love the same content as you. This bonding evokes a strong emotional response which is something that brands really like because when they work with us, they know that the content they're getting already has a built-in audience that did not just skim through it but actually interacted with it. So, the secret sauce is to have a platform that enriches the experience of consuming content and provides more democracy in terms of capturing diverse voices.” How brands are using Wattpad Today, more and more brands are open to experimenting with mediums and formats that is giving them highly innovative ways of engaging with their target audiences. So how has a platform like Wattpad helped brands create engaging stories and build enduring relationships with their audiences? “At Wattpad, our focus is on figuring out how our community can bring value to brands in the form of stories. And that's the real value that brands get. So, when brands have a brief, they come to us, we work with them to figure out how to engage the community from day one, where we invite all our users on the platform to write their version of stories on the messaging that the brand wants to create awareness on. So, instead one story, you get maybe thousands of stories from all over the world from your target audience that really connects with your brand messaging. Once the stories come, we pick the top stories and promote them for more readership because we realize that readers around the world who may not have written content still want to connect with the brand on the messaging that other users on Wattpad have written. And since we also have a studios division, we are able to adapt these stories into video and other formats that can traverse the messaging of the brand beyond Wattpad into more video-focused channels,” he explained. Earlier this year, Wattpad worked with Maybelline on a campaign for raising awareness on the impact the pandemic had on the mental health of Gen Zs around the world under the hashtag Brave Together. Wattpad invited everybody to write a short story or a personal experience around the topic and for every story that came in, the platform partnered with an NGO to donate a certain amount to raise awareness around mental health. “A campaign like this made the community feel that the brand cares about its voice and is not pushing its messaging on them. Secondly, the involvement of the nonprofit increased the connection with the brand, making the entire initiative more genuine. And this sort of brand positioning really benefits the brand in the long-term because they are able to create fans instead of just consumers,” he shared. So are there a few factors that can help brands success on Wattpad? Sharma said, “The key to being successful as a brand on Wattpad is to support a messaging for your brand that Gen Z users really care about. And secondly, be open to their interpretation of the message that you want to create awareness on. For example, we did a campaign with Puma in India where they launched a clothing and shoe line with Mary Kom and the hashtag was Born to Provoke. I really liked the way they used Wattpad. They invited our community members in India to write a story, a personal experience, a song or poetry to celebrate women breaking barriers. We got stories from different parts of the country that spoke about women from different age groups and backgrounds breaking societal norms. This was a very successful campaign and I think I use it as a benchmark because the brand here took a backseat, letting its target audience do all the work, whether its creation or consumption of the content. And a lot of users, on finding a story or song that they resonated with, shared it on their social network. So, the voice of the whole campaign went beyond just Wattpad.” With a community of more than 94 million people on its platform from across the world, Wattpad is witnessing an increasingly growing community of highly engaged audiences, opening up opportunities for brands to drive their brand messaging to a highly targeted audience. Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="4" retweetcount="2" status="LIVE | Join Devashish Sharma (@devunofficial), Country Head, Wattpad in conversation with Ashwin Raghunath as they… https://t.co/zqsgEg6zo0" createdat="1646047811000" id="1498259230859542530"></div>

Storyline: Decoding the art of storytelling in today's highly dynamic world

<ul><li>Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. </li><li>Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform. </li><li>The partnership with Times Bridge will help the company boost its presence in India and reach new users.</li></ul>The Toronto, Canada-based online publishing platform Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge*, the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group, to grow its presence in India and reach new users. Aside from offering the publishing platform like Amazon and Fictionpress.com, Wattpad has created a community for writers. There are forums and contests to engage with peers around the world. Winners of these contests have been known to find publishers. "My Life with the Walter Boys" by Ali Novak, "The Kissing Booth" by Beth Reekles, and "Nothing Left to Lose" by Kristy Moresely, found publishers for the paperback versions through Wattpad, according to a review on another online publishing platform Odyssey. Novak’s work, for instance, had 33 million reads even before it got published, <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Life-Walter-Boys-Ali-Novak/dp/1402297866">according</a> to Amazon. That was the reach of Wattpad in 2014. Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform, the company said in a statement. In 2018, it also tied up with Sony, online streaming service iflix, TV show producers Huayi Brothers Korea and Bavaria Fiction, and the US cable television channel SYFY to turn many of the stories into books, TV shows, films, and digital projects. Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. And its founder Allen Lau, an electrical engineer turned entrepreneur, wants more of the Indian pie. The India outreach will be led by country manager Devashish Sharma, who was <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devashishsharma/?originalSubdomain=in">part</a> of the founding team at CoHo, one of India’s co-living companies founded in 2015. Wattpad’s partnership with Times Group, one of the biggest media conglomerates in India, will also be an advantage. “Wattpad is a bold, proven idea that has changed how audiences around the world create and experience stories. Our investment will advance Wattpad’s mission, and original storytelling, across the Indian subcontinent, unlocking the creativity of many millions along the way,” Rishi Jaitly, the CEO of Times Bridge, said. Times Bridge’s previous investments include Uber, Airbnb, Coursera, Houzz, MUBI and Smule among others. In January 2018, Wattpad raised $51 million from Chinese investment giant Tencent, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, Canso, and existing investor Raine. *Times Bridge is also a partner in Business Insider India See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-will-groom-these-10-indian-startups-that-use-ai-and-machine-learning/articleshow/68384856.cms">Google will groom these 10 Indian startups that use AI and machine learning</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Spotify-got-a-million-Indians-to-try-its-app-in-a-week-but-they-will-only-stay-if-the-price-is-right/articleshow/68297160.cms">Spotify got a million Indians to try its app in a week — but they will only stay if the price is right</a>

Tencent-backed Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge to woo more Indian writers and readers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Canadian <keyword id="11538972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="relationship-app">relationship app</keyword> <keyword id="11538971" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="couply">Couply</keyword> won the 2021 pitch competition hosted by Collision, a Toronto-based technology conference attended by thousands of industry giants. </li><li>Insider spoke to its founders, <keyword id="216113" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tim-Johnson">Tim Johnson</keyword> and <keyword id="11538970" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="denesh-raymond">Denesh Raymond</keyword>, to learn more about their vision for Couply and the events leading up to its inception. </li></ul>Imagine this. You finally met that special someone-whether it be on a <keyword id="6367193" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dating">dating</keyword> app or in real life-and everything is going great until you hit that post-honeymoon-phase slump. Naturally, you turn to the app store for some guidance, only to find that the selection of relationship apps is rather slim in comparison to <keyword id="1557997" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="dating-apps">dating apps</keyword>. That was the ideation process behind Canadian startup Couply, founded by Tim Johnson and Denesh Raymond. It's a free relationship app designed to inspire couples to deepen their connection with fun features like personality quizzes, which then help aid the process of planning dates that are mutually enjoyable.<div type="image" title="screen_3" height="2532" width="1170" msid="83972177" hostid="261"></div>Couply's vision was so successful that it won Collision 2021's startup competition, PITCH, this past April. The bootstrapped company was one of 50 up-and-coming startups to pitch in front of a panel of judges, consisting of venture capitalists from B Capital Group, Salesforce Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners, to name a few. The two founders crossed paths when they both worked at Wattpad, an online storytelling platform for writers. Johnson stills works on the business development side of Wattpad and is a published author with a strong background in the nonprofit sector. Raymond was a software engineer at Wattpad, where he specialized in iOS and Android development and was a member of the Wattpad Monetization team. When Johnson came to Raymond with the idea for the app, Raymond was working as a tech lead at a product development company, building apps for companies like Bose and Peloton.At first, Raymond had his doubts. "I'm sort of taking it with a grain of salt because, being in the tech space, I've worked with different apps like this before," Raymond told Insider.Once Raymond came home that day and did his research, he realized that there weren't any big players to compete with, aside from the Bumbles and Tinders in the dating space. From that point on, the duo "just got into a room and started cracking at it," Raymond said. Since its launch in December of 2020, Couply has grown from a few downloads a day to 1,000 downloads a week, with its daily download rate doubling each month as a result of word of mouth, Johnson told Insider. He and Raymond hope to grow their user base from their current total of 10,000+ to an audience of one million in a year from now. Despite being developed in Canada, the app sees its biggest opportunity in the U.S. market, and this is where Johnson and Raymond plan to focus their efforts. Couply is also available for download globally and will eventually be accessible in different languages. The foundation of Couply is rooted in its creators' belief in the power of technology when used for good. Through research-based quizzes that are linked across both partners' accounts, couples can better understand each other's similarities and differences, as well as their own way of looking at the world. <div type="image" title="IMG_9820.PNG" height="2436" width="1125" msid="83972180" hostid="261"></div>This information guides Couply in providing personalized date ideas, gift suggestions, and relationship advice. In addition, the app's integrated calendar allows users to set reminders for important relationship milestones and book thoughtful dates, which is Couply's ultimate end goal for its users. "This kind of drills into that core sentiment of Couply, which is to get out there and do things with your partner in the real world," Johnson told Insider.Even in the heat of the pandemic, Couply has fared well among its users with the help of the in-app feedback system. Through this feature, the creators are able to directly communicate with their audience and gauge the kinds of dates they're interested in at a given time-not surprisingly, innovative ideas for a romantic night in have been highly requested. The app also boasts a daily conversation starter tool, which is designed to help the flow of meaningful interaction beyond simple check-ins. "You can use it as a fun thing at lunch or dinner," Johnson said. "Or even just text it to your partner during the day to keep that journey going, so that you're not only doing transactional conversations, you're actually learning about each other and your internal maps of the world." Johnson added that he and Raymond were lucky to be able to tap into a diverse set of perspectives in Toronto's tech community for feedback on their user experience and its accessibility for all members.

Founders of Canadian relationship app Couply talk gaining traction after winning Collision 2021 pitch competition

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">HookedHooked CEO Prerna Gupta</div></div></div>Hooked wants to turn bite-sized narratives into an empire as big as YouTube's, and Silicon Valley investors are starting to notice. Hooked turns narrative fiction into bite-sized stories that look more like text message conversations. It's almost voyeuristic to watch the conversation unfold, but each message has readers hitting "Next" to see the next line until it's done.Each story takes about a minute to read, but it only needs that much time to take you out of this world and into the narrative of another. And that's how it gets people hooked. In an investor report from Q4 2015, viewed by Business Insider, the company disclosed that it took in additional funding since September from Silicon Valley elite like Ron Conway's SV Angel and WME Entertainment, a Hollywood talent agency for content creators. The company now has $2.9 million raised at a $15 million valuation, its CEO Prerna Gupta confirmed. Of that, $2.1 million is still in the bank, giving the startup a 17-month runway at a time of difficult fundraising conditions. "We feel like we've got what we need to make things successful," Gupta told Business Insider. "Our belief is that there's a big opportunity to build something like YouTube that builds on narrative."Gupta likens it to the invention of the camera. At first, Hollywood filmed plays that were written for theater stages and turned into movies. But soon, filmmakers started developing movies fit for the big screen.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hooked</div></div></div>Gupta believes the same thing is going to happen in narrative. Amazon's Kindle app or communities like Wattpad have brought books onto mobile devices, but no one has really mastered creating narrative in a new form, native to mobile and designed to capture a person's short attention span, she believes."In our demographic, it seems obvious that the number of people willing to sit down and read for an hour a day is dwindling," Gupta said. "I think it's dying because we haven't adapted it to our pace."That doesn't mean Gupta wants to kill literature and the book, far from it. She noticed a drop off over the holidays in usage when many readers had the time to read a longer novel and didn't crave the two minute escape that Hooked gives. Rather, the two can be complimentary, and Gupta's vision goes beyond transforming literature. She wants to compete with YouTube.Hooked's text message style conversations opens themselves up to video and photo stories too. Like YouTube, Vine, and Snapchat have created a generation of artists that craft great stories on the platform, Hooked hopes it can inspire the same just with a linear narrative thread to the stories.According to its investor report, the option for video should be rolled out on Hooked later this year. And that's when the competition with YouTube and Vine will begin. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/alan-rickmans-most-iconic-movie-roles-2016-1">The 7 most memorable roles of 'Harry Potter' star Alan Rickman you may have completely forgotten</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="xlaXU2MDE6ZF3tHbhkP2Vtm9jhTGFx00" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The app that wants to turn bite-sized stories into a YouTube-like empire is turning heads in Silicon Valley

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">iTunes</div></div>Wattpad, an app used by 25 million people to create 150,000 stories per day, is now worth $67 million <a href="http://recode.net/2014/04/08/vcs-plow-46m-more-into-writing-community-wattpad/">reports Re/code</a>.
The app only had 8 million users two years ago, but there were two motivating factors for the recent infusion of capital: the growth and the loyalty of the writers and readers.
You can find all kinds of stories on Wattpad: romance, science fiction, fantasy and even stories about the band One Direction. Writers can upload their stories chapter by chapter. Members of the Wattpad community can leave comments on each chapter to provide suggestions on where the story could go.
Wattpad CEO Allen Lau told Re/code that 85% of the usage comes from mobile devices. Most of that time was spent reading, but Lau said that a surprising number of writers were using mobile devices to create their stories, as well.
Investors have referred to the app as the "YouTube of Writing." In an interview with <a href="http://gigaom.com/2012/06/06/wattpad-raises-17-million-to-become-the-youtube-of-writing/">GigaOm's Matthew Ingram</a>, one of Wattpad's primary investors Andrew Chung explained how this could be used as a tool for discovering new writers:
You're able to upload a story chapter by chapter, folks are able to comment on that chapter, and they can provide encouragement to the writer and actually signal where they'd like want the story to go, which creates a type of engagement that's impossible in an offline context. There's a very strong parallel to the way that YouTube was able to do that for amateur or user-generated video content.
This could become a powerful tool for finding the next popular author, but Lau explained to Re/code that the focus would be on building user growth for now. Paid products and native advertising could be coming down the line
You can download the app for <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/free-books-wattpad-ebook-reader/id306310789?mt=8">iOS</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wp.wattpad">Android</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wattpad-Unlimited-Stories/dp/B004K56MNU">Kindle</a>.

An App That Lets You Write Fan Fiction About The Band One Direction Raised Another $46 Million

<ul class="summary-list"><li>People can't get enough of the friendship between Dutch MPs Rob Jetten and Jesse Klaver.</li><li>They are collectively known as "Resse" on <keyword id="11894125" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tiktok" source="Orion">TikTok</keyword>, where fans imagine they are in love.</li></ul>TikTok users are obsessed with the friendship between two Dutch <keyword id="11947783" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politicians" source="Orion">politicians</keyword> - and now, people are even writing fan fiction imagining a romantic relationship between the two that the pair have firmly denied. MPs Rob Jetten, of the Democrats 66 party, and Jesse Klaver, leader of the GroenLinks party, are now known to fans by the portmanteau "Resse." On TikTok, there are fan edits which combine all of Jetten and Klaver's TV appearances. The hashtag #Resse has videos with over 45 million views in total. In one, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ressepeasants/video/7020161435544128773" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which has 3 million views</a>, posted by the account @ressepeasants, the video plays to the sound of the song "Never Enough" from the movie "The Greatest Showman," a song usually used on the app to depict love or awe.There are <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/stories/resse/hot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">72 stories under the category "Resse" on the fanfiction platform Wattpad</a>, a community site for amateur writers, including chapters of e-books with titles such as "Inseparable," "My Colleague," and "The Heart of <keyword id="11893346" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics" source="Orion">Politics</keyword>." In most of them, Jetten and Klaver meet at work and try to resist their feelings for one another, but ultimately fall in love.It's common for readers of fictional works to write stories that go beyond what's in the original books or movies, such as the "Harry Potter" series. Fans of real-world bands, musicians, <a href="https://www.insider.com/youtuber-fan-fiction-teens-exposure-to-violent-sexual-content-2020-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and even YouTubers</a> have also been known to get creative about what the lives of their favorite stars could be. But there aren't many cases of this happening with politicians. <h2>Psychologists say affectionate, platonic relationships between men may fascinate viewers</h2>Psychologist Avigail Lev, who specializes in interpersonal relationships, told Insider that people may be fascinated by this friendship because Klaver, who is a straight man, displays an "affectionate and respectful bromance" with Jetten, who is gay."During this time, with the 'me too' movement, Trumpism, and gender tensions, people feel touched when men in a position of power behave affectionately towards each other," she said.Psychotherapist Madalaine Weiss, who specializes in helping people find workplace and life fulfillment, told Insider a parasocial relationship - in which fans of celebrities form the illusion of a face to face relationship - is an "opportunity for people to practice seeing themselves in the kind of relationship they dream about.""The stakes are low, as people are less likely to get rejected than if they reached out to a real person in the real world," Weiss said.<h2>'Resse' reminds younger fans of a popular fanfiction created about One Direction</h2>The owner of the TikTok account <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ressepeasants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@ressepeasants</a>, which has 41,700 followers, whose first name is Eve but asked to withhold her surname in case it interfered with her own potential future in politics, told Insider that she believed the idea of "Resse" was born about six months ago. She says it all started with one video showing them looking at each other with a "kind of love" in their eyes, she said, which promptly spread internationally. Eve is from Canada and isn't sure how she ended up on Dutch TikTok, but she said she loved that politics didn't come between the Jetten and Klaver's friendship."Even though Rob and Jesse are not from the same party, there's still this really good friendship going on," she said. "By documenting their friendship, I thought it would be good way for other people that are not from the <keyword id="11893779" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="netherlands" source="Orion">Netherlands</keyword> to learn a bit more about politics."A fan who wished to remain anonymous and posts TikToks and Instagram photos under the name <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dropjetten?" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@dropjetten</a> told Insider they grew up in the time of "Larry Stylinson" - a popular community of One Direction fans who used to write fanfiction about Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson having a secret relationship."This Resse ship reminds them of what Larry once was," they said.<h2>The fandom is navigating what content could cross the line</h2>Jetten commented on people "shipping" his relationship with Klaver back in April (shipping is a term used when fans want two public figures to be in a relationship). He shared <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@papajetten/video/6952163171931131141" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikToks made by the account @papajetten</a> on his Instagram story.Jetten also posted a photo of him and Klaver and said there was no truth to the romance rumors."Sorry to disappoint all my new fans, but Jesse and I are just really good colleagues," he wrote with a winking emoji. He added that both he and Klaver enjoyed the TikToks, and going viral was a "whole new experience.""I will be sitting on the sofa with my boyfriend and Jesse will be doing the same with his wife and kids," he said. "We both wouldn't have it any other way."Both Eve and the user @dropjetten told Insider that they appreciate how Klaver and Jetten are communicative with their fans, and even play up to "Resse" a little bit.Eve said that while Klaver and Jetten seem to have "really good chemistry," fans need to be mindful that they both have partners."As long as the Resse edits are done respectfully and not too extreme, I think we can all still enjoy their lovely friendship," she said. "Resse is just an amazing thing that happened in people's lives, and shouldn't disappear because we took it too far!"Jetten and Klaver did not respond to Insider's requests for comment. <a href="https://www.insider.com/culture">For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.</a>

TikTok users obsessed with two Dutch politicians are writing and posting fan fiction about their imagined relationship

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>When Anna Todd started posting&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5095707-after">fan fiction stories online</a>, she never expected that her love of boy band One Direction would turn her into a sensation with a reported&#xa0;<a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Anna-Todd/474410587">six-figure publishing deal.</a>&#xa0;But it did.Now, Todd is a bona fide best-selling author thanks to a story&#xa0;she wrote mostly&#xa0;on her iPhone.Her&#xa0;five-book "After" series has been published in 29 countries&#xa0;and read over a billion times on <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>, the digital reading platform where she originally published it. Paramount <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/one-direction-inspired-fan-fic-800189">even recently purchased the rights</a> to turn "<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5095707-after">After</a>" into a movie.Todd's fanfic success story is far from a fluke. Publishing houses and movie studios are increasingly looking online for fresh stories that have a built-in fan base. "Fifty Shades of Grey"&#xa0;was first published&#xa0;online, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-started-as-twilight-fan-fiction-2015-6">presented as fan fiction based on the "Twilight" books</a>. As writer E.L. James'&#xa0;audience ballooned online, mainstream publishers and movie studios took note. She became a best-selling author and&#xa0;her story was then adapted for the big screen, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-at-the-box-office-2015-2">making millions at the box office</a>.And now, Todd is&#xa0;following in her footsteps. The main difference between their trajectories, though, is that Todd had the added benefit of the digital publishing platform&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>&#xa0;accelerating the&#xa0;process. So how'd she do it?A few years ago, Todd was working odd jobs and waiting tables after having taken&#xa0;some classes at&#xa0;college but never graduating. She'd married her high school boyfriend at 18 and moved to Texas to follow his Army career.&#xa0;After becoming obsessed with One Direction, she&#xa0;started writing standalone fan fiction short stories about the boy band on an unlikely medium: the photo-sharing app Instagram. "I had no intention of [formally] publishing them," she said of her stories. "I just wrote what I wanted to be reading."Even when restricted to writing her stories as lengthy&#xa0;Instagram captions, though, she started gaining a following. A fellow fan took notice and turned her on to the much more writer-friendly&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Starting in April 2013, she wrote and published "After" one chapter at a time on Wattpad, without any&#xa0;outlining or planning&#xa0;for the plot. "After" reimagines One Direction's Harry Styles as a bad boy college student with a girlfriend named Tessa Young. And yes, its sex scenes are just as bodice-ripping as those found in any romance novel."After"&#xa0;was&#xa0;written almost entirely from Todd's cell phone.&#xa0;Often, she'd write while standing in line at Target or the grocery store.She dedicated five hours a day to writing "After" and another three hours to promoting it within Wattpad and on social media. Soon, it turned into a 100-chapter, one-million-word juggernaut that was rapidly attracting a fan base in the hundreds of thousands. Todd become famous on Wattpad.The only issue: Wattpad and its writers don't have much name recognition beyond the site's&#xa0;rabid fan base.Wattpad is a platform for reading and self-publishing, and its reach is quietly enormous. The Toronto-based free digital reading site&#xa0;has more than 40 million users, <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/140926/dq140926b-eng.htm">more than the entire population of Canada</a>. These numbers are constantly increasing, with over 24 hours of new reading content being uploaded every minute, Wattpad CEO Allen Lau told <keyword id="72550" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="TI">TI</keyword>. So while Todd's fame on Wattpad was growing, her life continued normally. She kept waiting tables in her Texas town.&#xa0;But soon, all that would change.Wattpad had noticed how popular she was. They&#xa0;reached out to Todd&#xa0;and, within six months, helped&#xa0;her score a book deal with Simon and Schuster in April 2014. This was just one year after Todd had shared her first "After" chapter on Wattpad.The&#xa0;"After" now available in stores&#xa0;is an edited version&#xa0;based on Todd's Wattpad writings. The 100-chapter saga has been broken down across <a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-The-Series-Anna-Todd/dp/1476792488">four books</a>, while the&#xa0;original version is still available on Wattpad.&#xa0;When she got the book deal,&#xa0;Todd had&#xa0;to change her character's name from Harry Styles to Hardin Scott&#xa0;for legal reasons. This is a common practice when online fan fiction is adapted for print. Since&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-started-out-as-twilight-fan-fiction-2015-2">"Fifty Shades of Grey" started out as 'Twilight" fan fiction</a>, the character names and settings were also changed when the stories were published.&#xa0;Since <a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-The-Series-Anna-Todd/dp/1476792488">the first "After" book&#xa0;was published</a> in October 2014, her audience has only continued to grow."At [book] signings, I'll have everyone from 15-year-old girls to 45-year-old women coming up to me," Todd explained.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Todd's&#xa0;success has&#xa0;opened the door&#xa0;for other fanfic authors. Wattpad writers like&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5449917-body-rock">Doeneseya Bates</a>&#xa0;and <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/1333719-backfire-niall-horan">Bel Watson</a> have gained millions of reads on the platform for stories featuring&#xa0;characters like Justin Bieber and, of course, members of One Direction.&#xa0;Despite their fan fiction origins, there's still one major difference between&#xa0;"Fifty Shades of Grey" and "After."&#xa0;While Todd's&#xa0;books have plenty of sex scenes,&#xa0;the couple isn't suspending each other from the ceiling with&#xa0;rope."If you read 'After,' you won't find any BDSM stuff," Todd said of her characters' sexual encounters.&#xa0;"After" is also&#xa0;inspiring a new generation of readers."A lot of parents have said, 'My daughter never read before your books and now she loves reading," Todd told TI.Not everyone is a huge fan of Todd's writing style. Critics&#xa0;have been brutal, calling her work "<a href="http://jezebel.com/book-is-supposedly-new-50-shades-but-is-really-just-sl-1564444771">sloppy</a>," "<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1055203/anna-todds-after-is-an-insult-to-intelligent-readers-everywhere">lacking in style</a>," and a "<a href="http://www.sugarscape.com/bookclub/reviews/a1072004/book-review-after-anna-todds-one-direction-fan-fic-turned-novel/">letdown</a>," but Todd and her loyal readers remain unfazed."Love fanfic or hate it, it's getting thousands of people to read and write who otherwise would not have," she told TI. "Reading and writing isn't supposed to be this exclusive club, it's just supposed to be entertaining." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-ashley-madison-client-information-2015-7">Here's the type of info hackers have after breaking into the extramarital hookup site Ashley Madison</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ViaDFkdjqYAnmokhNuwEhJWAd8e5-lu0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

This woman wrote One Direction fanfic on her phone and ended up with a massive six-figure book deal

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Prerna Gupta</div></div></div>Prerna Gupta thinks she knows why most attempts to bring fiction to our phones have, more or less, failed. She says they were usually overdesigned, and tried to create some gorgeous interface that took advantage of what pixels could do. They were beautifully useless and didn't focus on what phones could actually bring to fiction: data.Gupta's new app, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hooked-0-0/id1024818709?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Hooked</a>, aims to solve that problem with stories that are told in bite-sized chunks and built for your phone. Hooked has just closed a funding round of $1.2 million with investors like 500 Startups, Greylock, Foundation Capital, and Gil Penchina - a raise which brings its total funding to $1.9 million.Gupta is an industry veteran whose app-building startup in the amateur music space, Khu.sh, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/01/smule-acquires-khush-to-further-boost-their-music-cred/">sold to competitor Smule in 2011</a>. She and her husband, who are business partners, are now trying to bring a developer's perspective to literature in the same way they brought it to music.After the pair sold Khu.sh, they decided to take a break from Silicon Valley, and embarked on writing a science fiction fantasy trilogy together. The series, which is unfinished, takes place in a dystopian Silicon Valley 100 years in the future, when the world has split harshly into have and have-nots. As they were writing, Gupta began to think about the business of fiction, and how books were distributed and monetized. She felt there had been little innovation in the market, even with the inventions of gadgets like tablets and e-readers.Phones, especially, struck her as a wasted opportunity. And the market she became focused on was the "young adult" one."Most young adult novels are 50,000 to 100,000 words long, and reading them on your phone is definitely not a native experience," she says. To Gupta, it wasn't just the size of the screen that was wrong. It was the entire way we use phones. "More than size it's about behavior, the way we live our lives," she says. "Traditional books need continuity. When you're on your phone, you only have 5-10 minute chunks and it's hard to get into the flow." And no matter how big a phone screen gets, it won't fix that.That's when Gupta hit upon the idea of stories told in small messages, primarily in dialogue. She took her inspiration from classic novels like "Dracula," which is written entirely in letters. At launch, the way stories appear on Hooked is in text (or multimedia) messages told between two characters.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hooked</div></div></div>This type of storytelling has another advantage, one that Gupta thinks is a key to Hooked's success. Breaking down stories into text messages means they are easy to analyze. You can look at your audience and see exactly where your story begins to lose people. Then you can fix it.With Hooked, Gupta wants to bring the ideas that have been floating around the tech world into the fiction one. You get a beta product out there, and collect user data. You observe your readers' behavior. You see what they like and what they don't. And then you refine your story to make it better.Of course this ethos comes with its own set of questions about art versus commerce, and whether an author should let the audience dictate his or her plot - or change a sad ending to a happy one. Gupta acknowledges this, but doesn't let it discourage her from trying to build something that might put authors in better touch with their audiences. There are tradeoffs, but in her opi non, not overwhelming ones.To create content for the app launch, Gupta reached out to the top MFA programs (Master of Fine Arts) in fiction around the country. She put out the word she was going to pay authors for fiction and, not unsurprisingly, her inbox was flooded. Hooked currently has 200 stories, but Gupta wants to get that up to 1,000 by the end of the year. Many of the stories are from genres like thrillers, or mysteries - ones that lend themselves to cliff hangers. But Hooked also includes romance, science fiction, and comedy, which are popular with young adult audiences.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">HookedHooked on the Apple Watch.</div></div></div>Right now, the app is running on a "freemium" model, where users can read a certain number of messages a day before they have to wait (or upgrade). Gupta sees her biggest competitor as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wattpad-free-books-ebook-reader/id306310789?mt=8">Wattpad</a>, a mobile-focused social platform that sees thousands of free stories uploaded every day. What she says sets Hooked apart is that it is focused more on creating the optimal user experience for a particular story, rather than aspiring to be a sprawling social network. And that is what is at the heart Hooked: the idea that fiction on the phone is a form that is still undecided, the idea that no one has quite got it right. Starting today, Hooked will play its hand.<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hooked-0-0/id1024818709?ls=1&amp;mt=8">Check Hooked out for yourself at the App Store</a>. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-life-story-tesla-spacex-2015-6">Elon Musk's life story is more incredible than fiction</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ltdmpxbjpPctlfnQF2tuiq0P8zaXXV2g" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

This startup just got $1.2 million to bring bite-sized fiction to your phone

Fred Wilson says "the social media phase of the Internet ended" in 2014.
Wilson, perhaps more than any other venture capitalist, spotted the emergence of social media early and profited from it. His firm, Union Square Ventures, invested early in Twitter, Tumblr, Zynga, Foursquare, and a few others.
In <a href="http://avc.com/2014/12/what-just-happened/">a post looking back at what happened in 2014</a>, he says social media is pretty much dead.&#xa0;
"Entrepreneurs and developers still build social applications," says Wilson. "We still use them. But there isn't much innovation here anymore. The big platforms are mature. Their place is secure."
Messaging apps have replaced social media apps, says Wilson.
"Messaging is the new social media ... Families use WhatsApp groups instead of Facebook. Kids use Snapchat instead of Instagram. Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp in February of this year was the transaction that defined this trend."
Wilson thinks messaging and mobile moved into the enterprise in a big way in 2014. He says Slack, the fast growing group chart, is the "poster boy" for this trend.&#xa0;
Here is Wilson's <a href="http://avc.com/2014/12/what-just-happened/">complete list of what happened in 2014</a>:
1/ the social media phase of the Internet ended. this may have happened a few years ago actually but i felt it strongly this year. entrepreneurs and developers still build social applications. we still use them. but there isn't much innovation here anymore. the big platforms are mature. their place is secure.
2/ messaging is the new social media. this may be part of what is going on in 1/. families use whatsapp groups instead of facebook. kids use snapchat instead of instagram. facebook's acquisition of whatsapp in february of this year was the transaction that defined this trend.
3/ the "sharing economy" was outed as the "rental economy." nobody is sharing anything. people are making money, plain and simple. technology has made renting things (even in real time) as simple as it made buying things a decade ago. Uber and Airbnb are the big winners in this category but there are and will be others.
4/ the capital markets have moved to the internet. we call it crowdfunding but what is really going on is raising money is a great application of a global platform that connects billions of people in real time. i don't know the total amount of capital that was raised on the internet across all sectors (equity, debt, creative projects, charity, helping a person in need, real estate, energy, etc, etc) in 2014 but i am sure it is in the tens of billions.
5/ mobile OS has become a stable duopoly around the world. but android is splintering into google android and non google android and that may lead to new large players. 2014 was a big coming out party for xiaomi. if and when they come to the US, things will get interesting. they are the new (and better) samsung.
6/ mobile and messaging has started to impact the enterprise. slack is the poster boy for this trend in 2014.
7/ youtube became a monster. it always has been. but in 2014 youtube emerged as the place for entertainment consumption for anyone under 16. and these youngsters are going to grow up quickly. watching The Interview on YouTube was a fitting end to an amazing year for the king (and queen and joker too) of Internet video.
8/ we finally got rid of files. dropbox, google drive, soundcloud, spotify, netflix, hbogo, youtube, wattpad, kindle, and a host of other cloud based services finally killed off three letter filenames like mp3, mov, doc and xls. spending a week in the caribbean with young adults and bad internet was the tell on this one for me. they don't even have mp3s on their iphones anymore!
9/ the net neutrality debate emerged as a national political issue with Obama's endorsement of Title II regulation of the last mile of the internet. it is unclear how this issue will resolve itself but&#xa0;<a href="http://knightfoundation.org/features/netneutrality/">the public has spoken loudly and clearly</a>&#xa0;and politicians understand that the internet needs to remain open for innovation and we can't let the monopoly carriers and cable companies mess that up.
10/ cyberwarfare, cybercrime, cyberhacking, and cybersecurity was by far the dominant theme of 2014. if anyone had their head in the sand on this one before this year, they don't anymore. this is our new normal. the US takedown of North Korea's internet last week, and the state department official's comment that "i guess accidents can happen" is a moment to remember as we head out of 2014 and into our future.

The 'Social Media Phase Of The Internet' Ended In 2014

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>On Thursday night in San Francisco, Cory Levy, co-founder of the One app, held a crazy event for 3,000 20-somethings called "Internapalooza."The fourth floor of the Parc55 hotel was filled with backpacks, body odor, and tech t-shirts, both being worn and being handed out. While some were interns there to catch up with college friends, others ambitiously piled into the middle of the room and spent their networking time circulating résumés, hoping to impress the recruiters on hand from the biggest companies in the Bay Area. (Google being the notable exception).We decided to check out the scene and talked to more than two dozen attendees. Here's what they were talking about:<h2>Their dream internships: Mostly Google</h2>When we asked people what company they would choose as their "dream" tech internship, we got a whole bunch of different answers, including Apple, Facebook, Adobe, VMWare, Uber, and (its rival) Lyft."It's not about a company name, but where you can do something you're passionate about," one rising junior business major said. "Palantir, Uber, Airbnb - any of the unicorns," a 21-year-old college dropout who had interned at Apple and Wattpad told us. One ecstatic Carnegie Mellon student told us that he was down to the final round of interviews for Google, when he got the good news: "I have an internship at Apple this summer - it's been my dream since the fourth grade." However, the one company that got more votes than any other: Google. "They just have the best combination of everything," one rising junior said. "For a technical, computer science person like me, they have such diverse options." "I want to work with big data," one PhD student said, "And they have so much data that you can get your hands dirty with."That same student, who currently has an internship at Genentech, told us he was disappointed that Google hadn't shown up to the intern fair. But he also had a theory as to why: "They have so many candidates, they probably don't feel like they need to come," he said with a wry smile. <h2>Perks: "Dropbox has the best catering"</h2>You can't talk to a bunch of tech interns without asking about the perks. While people raved about product discounts, free food and Uber credits, the most unique story came from a rising senior who had spent a summer at a cloud-based health records company in Boston, Athenahealth. The company let Top Chef film an episode on its campus, and managers brought their interns to taste all the food and be part of the show. "You definitely don't expect your tech internship to get you on TV," he said. "Ask anyone who's been there: Dropbox has the best catering," one intern said. "If you don't work there, you have to get your friends to bring you over for dinner at least once. It's amazing."A former eBay intern said that last summer the company flew everyone in the program from across North America to downtown San Francisco for an "intern conference" where they got to meet the CEO and have a late-night party on the roof of their hotel. Outside that event, the summer was filled with bowling nights, catered lunches, and Q-and-A sessions with execs. This summer, he's working at the eBay subsidiary StubHub. <h2>The crazy-expensive cost of living</h2>We talked to several interns who had either moved to Silicon Valley for the summer or were trying to get settled here permanently. One German masters student said, "Of course, I wanted to move here. It's like Hollywood for tech people." But it's expensive. Several interns received only housing stipends, rather than corporate housing, which can be hard in the tough bay area market. Malika Watler, a rising junior at Spellman College and an intern at EA Games, said she she was surprised at how expensive it was and ended up using her housing stipend towards renting out an Airbnb for the summer. Trushitha Narla, an intern at Uber, first tried living in Berkeley to save on an apartment, but opted to eventually move into the city despite the higher cost of living.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>One Canadian intern wasn't quite as excited about living in Silicon Valley. "I always dreamt of living and working here until I actually started working here," he said. "Or maybe just because I'm in Cupertino. Without a car, it kind of sucks. And you realize we're in an area with a pretty limited world-view."<h2>Diversity: "San Jose is called Man Jose"</h2>A lot of interns said they wished Silicon Valley had a more diverse culture.Elias Ramirez, an intern at Panafold, said there was a lack of "clear lack of culture and diversity" in Silicon Valley tech. Trushitha Narlas, an intern at Uber, mentioned wanting to talk to more non-tech people in her every day life. "They just want to talk about programming," she said.They also want to see diversity outside of the big Ivy League schools. Daniel Diaz, an intern at Uber and a rising senior at Cal State Monterey Bay with Ramirez, said he hopes tech companies start exposing more of these opportunities to smaller schools. (He got hired because Uber came to campus to recruit.)There's also the gender-thing. Gautam Das, an Apple intern, said there's very few girls around and the culture is much more-tech centric compared to Madison, Wisconsin, where he goes to school. "San Jose is called Man Jose," he said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><h2>They had to send out LOTS of applications</h2>Although everyone agreed that tech internships are incredibly competitive, we heard a very wide range for how many applications the hopefuls had sent out. One graduate student sent he sent out 100, while another only completed 5. They were currently working at Salesforce and Apple respectively. The average seemed to be between 20 and 30.Although some of the kids we talked to were still desperately searching for something to do for the summer, two students said they'd had their spots locked down since late last year. One thing interns don't want to talk much about: how much money they are making. Salaries varied between $6,000 and $7,500 a month, but many stayed tight-lipped on how much they're pocketing. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-air-force-one-tour-boeing-private-jet-2015-5">Take a tour of the $367 million jet that will soon be called Air Force One</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="4zNWQ2dTq0SJxfj9SagVkmMxd7YoUovg" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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