ITV

Tag: Facebook Messenger

  • Truecaller crosses 500 million downloads and 150 million daily active users globally

    Truecaller crosses 500 million downloads and 150 million daily active users globally

    MUMBAI: Truecaller announced today that the company has crossed 500 million downloads and surpassed 150 million daily active users (DAUs) globally. This comes close on the heels of the company sharing the news of attaining over 1 million paying subscribers to their Premium services.

    This is a significant achievement for Truecaller, which is emerging as a one-stop communication platform with a wide array of services like Instant Messaging, VoIP, and Payments. The 150 million DAU’s achievement makes Truecaller the most used communication app in India after apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

    The key factors that have led to this rapid growth are Truecaller’s many communication features like their smart dialer, VoIP capability, Instant Messaging, and their spam-free SMS inbox.

    Sharing his thoughts on this unique achievement, Alan Mamedi, CEO & Co-founder, Truecaller, said “By differentiating ourselves from the standard stock dialer and messaging apps, and solving some fundamental communication problems for our users, we have been able to capitalize and excel the competition. This is a very significant achievement. 150 million daily active users and 500 million downloads is extraordinary. These milestones underline the faith and trust our users have in our brand.”

    Along with this milestone Truecaller will soon be rolling out two important features that will revolutionize the standard dialer experience offered by smartphone manufacturers today:

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    Call Alerts: In an effort to help users depend less on low-speed and faulty networks, which are prevalent in emerging markets, Truecaller sends a Call Alert to users about who’s calling before the phone rings. This is a big upgrade for millions of Android users.
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    Full Screen Caller ID: Truecaller will be introducing the most powerful Caller ID and dialer experience on the market. There simply is no comparison when you look at standard dialers from phone makers. More and more people are finding it challenging to separate work and personal life, especially when they use their phones for both. With the new full screen Caller ID, you’ll see instantly whether an incoming call is personal, business, or spam – and on top of this you can do all other key actions like accepting, rejecting or sending a quick message from the same screen. This gives businesses a better opportunity to take control of their business profile, and in turn users will get more information on who’s trying to get in touch with them.

  • BARC India exhorts TRAI to ‘empower’ it as digital measurer

    BARC India exhorts TRAI to ‘empower’ it as digital measurer

    MUMBAI: In a smart move that could lead to further enhancing of its credibility and importance, Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) has exhorted Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to “empower” it to be the uniform measurer of audience and other data related to TV, and OTT and digital platforms.   

    “BARC, which provides significant granular measurement data on television, if empowered by this Hon’ble authority, shall provide unbiased and accurate measurement data on contents broadcasted, streamed, re-transmitted, downloaded and shared in OTT platforms. The outcome of the above will lead to one single robust measurement report for television, OTT and digital platforms,” the Indian measurement organisation has said in its submission on TRAI’s consultation paper on regulatory framework for OTT communication services.

    Interestingly, while BARC India’s commitment to roll out digital media measurement services Ekam is a work in progress, the present TRAI consultation paper is more focussed on OTT voice or communications services like WhatsApp, Facebook’s Messenger and similar Indian products like Hike. However, it must be made clear here that many of the over 80 submissions from diverse stakeholders, including big TV companies like Star India and Zee, do dwell on video OTT and possibilities relating to regulations.

    Quoting from the Mobile Eco-system and Ad-sizing Report 2018 that highlights India has 250 million registered online video viewers, 100 million OTT viewers and that viewing of video content increased by 75 per cent in recent times, BARC India drives home the point if the contents streamed, viewed, re­transmitted and downloaded on OTT services “are measured and rated” by it, “more transparency in the digital eco-system” would follow.

    Highlighting the many strengths of the system and technology that the organisation presently employs and deploys, BARC India has submitted: “The OTT platforms prevail in the mobile and virtual worlds, which allow advertisers to easily and efficiently target well-defined groups or even individual consumers across various mediums…Hence, it is imminent to regulate, analyse and derive audience measurement system on OTT platforms.”

    Although several global agencies like comScore, Nielsen, App Annie and SimilarWeb provide third-party analytics on OTT platforms, the Indian industry lacks a credible and neutral measurement agency, it has been contended. As digital ad spends increase gradually, proper data analytics will offer additional opportunity to advertisers and clients to compare the effectiveness of media spends amongst various distribution platforms.

    BARC India, which has successfully set up a transparent, accurate, and inclusive TV audience measurement system that’s built upon a robust and future-ready technology backbone, while strengthening its case to measure and analyse the digital realm, has added the “big data and insights” generated by it presently powers “efficient media spends and content decisions” in a highly dynamic and growing television sector of India.

    With a panel that is currently being scaled up to 180,000 individuals, BARC India is also the largest measurement company of its kind in the world.

  • Yahoo to shut messenger app after 20 years

    Yahoo to shut messenger app after 20 years

    MUMBAI: Yahoo Messenger, the messaging app, is finally shutting down for good.The app, which was acquired by Verizon in 2017, is shutting down on 17 July. The company didn’t give any explanation for shutting its messenger. Yahoo Messenger users will now be directed to invite-based Yahoo Squirrel service. Testing of Yahoo Squirrel was done last month and it will soon be available for users.

    With the increase in number of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat continually capturing the market, it was probably hard to compete with the existing product.

    Yahoo Messenger was one of the first instant messaging apps created, but it struggled to keep up with modern apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat. However, the app found a surprising niche- within oil trading companies. Older versions of Yahoo Messenger shut down in 2016, and oil traders voiced their concern about the app’s demise at the time.

    “You have no idea how much I’ll miss Yahoo Messenger,” one oil trader from Singapore told Reuters in 2016. “I built up hundreds of contacts on it over more than a decade. I have Yahoo friends I have never met, but with whom I spent many hours bantering and joking. It also made me a lot of money. Now that it’s gone, I could cry, as per a blog post.”

    For the users who are still using Yahoo mail, their Yahoo ID will keep working for other Yahoo services such as Yahoo Mail.

  • WATConsult celebrates anniversary with chatbot – Dot

    WATConsult celebrates anniversary with chatbot – Dot

    MUMBAI: Continuing its slew of many firsts, WATConsult is now the first Indian digital agency to launch its own chatbot, Dot. This chatbot will act as a historian and insider of WATConsult and will guide the users through the agency’s journey in the last decade.

    Built on Facebook Messenger, Dot will showcase the story behind WATConsult, its achievements, anecdotes, facts about the agency, some funny, memorable moments, milestones and highlight the work done across brands since inception.

    WATConsult founder and CEO Rajiv Dhingra said, “To commemorate the 10-year milestone, we are excited to announce the launch of our in-house chatbot, Dot. The chatbot encapsulates the spirit of our journey and evolution over the last decade. We are looking forward to assist brands to leverage this medium.”

    Through Dot, brands can now interact and engage with the agency directly. It also has an additional feature which allows prospective employees to view job opportunities and apply instantly.

    The chatbot was launched under WATConsult’s recently established innovation lab, InnoWAT.

  • WATConsult celebrates anniversary with chatbot – Dot

    WATConsult celebrates anniversary with chatbot – Dot

    MUMBAI: Continuing its slew of many firsts, WATConsult is now the first Indian digital agency to launch its own chatbot, Dot. This chatbot will act as a historian and insider of WATConsult and will guide the users through the agency’s journey in the last decade.

    Built on Facebook Messenger, Dot will showcase the story behind WATConsult, its achievements, anecdotes, facts about the agency, some funny, memorable moments, milestones and highlight the work done across brands since inception.

    WATConsult founder and CEO Rajiv Dhingra said, “To commemorate the 10-year milestone, we are excited to announce the launch of our in-house chatbot, Dot. The chatbot encapsulates the spirit of our journey and evolution over the last decade. We are looking forward to assist brands to leverage this medium.”

    Through Dot, brands can now interact and engage with the agency directly. It also has an additional feature which allows prospective employees to view job opportunities and apply instantly.

    The chatbot was launched under WATConsult’s recently established innovation lab, InnoWAT.

  • Facebook’s India-focused news feed feature launched

    Facebook’s India-focused news feed feature launched

    GURGAON: Social media giant Facebook a short while ago announced a new feature for providing India-focused news feeds. This decision was announced at Facebook’s yet-to-be-officially-launched office here.

    Among the features of the new architecture will be:

    1. Client side ranking

    2. Fetching stories throughout the day

    3. Surfacing stories from your phone (you haven’t seen)

    4. Inserting new loaded stories into people’s feeds while they scroll

    These features will be rolled out today to a limited number of users at first. It’s (mobile) Android-only — for now. “Facebook has tested these features globally but the user engagement is the highest in India as it addresses specific Indian needs such as low connectivity,” Facebook VP product management Adam Mosseri said.

    Among its many firsts, Facebook Messenger’s Data Saver option recently started rolling out to Android phones in India. A new setting has been spotted on the app in the latest Google Pixel smartphone and an older Samsung device running Android 5.1. The setting was not available on an iOS version of the app.

    Facebook has started rolling out the feature to regular app users as well. Users have the option of toggling on/off the data saver mode in the settings. Facebook Messenger will also show much data it has saved per session. One can also reset this data count, depending on your needs.

    Also, Facebook recently introduced new features to allow one to order food, request an appointment with a local spa, get a quote and even book movie tickets with your friends’ recommendations as you travel to a new place.

  • Facebook’s India-focused news feed feature launched

    Facebook’s India-focused news feed feature launched

    GURGAON: Social media giant Facebook a short while ago announced a new feature for providing India-focused news feeds. This decision was announced at Facebook’s yet-to-be-officially-launched office here.

    Among the features of the new architecture will be:

    1. Client side ranking

    2. Fetching stories throughout the day

    3. Surfacing stories from your phone (you haven’t seen)

    4. Inserting new loaded stories into people’s feeds while they scroll

    These features will be rolled out today to a limited number of users at first. It’s (mobile) Android-only — for now. “Facebook has tested these features globally but the user engagement is the highest in India as it addresses specific Indian needs such as low connectivity,” Facebook VP product management Adam Mosseri said.

    Among its many firsts, Facebook Messenger’s Data Saver option recently started rolling out to Android phones in India. A new setting has been spotted on the app in the latest Google Pixel smartphone and an older Samsung device running Android 5.1. The setting was not available on an iOS version of the app.

    Facebook has started rolling out the feature to regular app users as well. Users have the option of toggling on/off the data saver mode in the settings. Facebook Messenger will also show much data it has saved per session. One can also reset this data count, depending on your needs.

    Also, Facebook recently introduced new features to allow one to order food, request an appointment with a local spa, get a quote and even book movie tickets with your friends’ recommendations as you travel to a new place.

  • Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com strengthened their travel booking offering by launching a series of exciting new features. These innovative technological solutions cater to different touch points in their business and further ease the booking process. The features launched – a Facebook chat bot to enable booking tickets, a self serve platform to address customer queries, and a market place chat platform to enable travellers to chat in real time with the sellers – are leading edge technology features that are a first for the Indian travel Industry.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall says, “It has been our constant endeavour to stay in touch with the pulse of the traveller and up-grade our products accordingly. Today we are excited to unveil the chat bot for Facebook Messenger, a first in the Industry and a convenient way for travelers to quickly see travel options and make bookings. Facebook has a wide user base, and this chat option will enable travellers to experience Yatra in a seamless fashion without moving out of Facebook. Also the self serve and market place chat tools help ease the booking process and improve the overall customer experience.”

    Today’s traveller, thanks to the internet, is very well informed and believes in thorough research before deciding on their travel. Facebook is the largest social network and a number of travellers also take advice from friends before making travel plans. In addition, Yatra has a vast reach of almost 1.5 lakh Facebook followers who are looking to make bookings and enquiring about best deals. To leverage this audience, Yatra has launched an intelligent chat bot which helps customers search and book flights directly from their FB messenger. Itis an intuitive platform which helps consumer search in natural language and can handle even complicated queries. Chat bots let users perform tasks within messenger apps that would otherwise be done in a separate app. The company can use these bots to target users on platforms they frequent rather than making them download the company’s app to book.

    Yatra had earlier launched a holidays marketplace, as it enabled a wide range of packages and the best prices as buyers and sellers could directly interact and complete the transaction with no intermediaries. The marketplace chat platform that has just been launched serves as a direct connect between the customer and the re-seller. It has been built with the ability to have text based chats or direct voice calls. Customers can also share attachments via the chat. Discreetness is given due importance with customer privacy being completed maintained.

    Yatra has also introduced a self serve platform that can answer customer queries as it works like an automated FAQ machine, where responses to generic queries are pre-fed. In addition, based on the kind of queries posted by customers, the base of responses can be enhanced making the tool all the more powerful and efficacious.

  • Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    Yatra launches cutting edge technology

    MUMBAI: Yatra.com strengthened their travel booking offering by launching a series of exciting new features. These innovative technological solutions cater to different touch points in their business and further ease the booking process. The features launched – a Facebook chat bot to enable booking tickets, a self serve platform to address customer queries, and a market place chat platform to enable travellers to chat in real time with the sellers – are leading edge technology features that are a first for the Indian travel Industry.

    Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall says, “It has been our constant endeavour to stay in touch with the pulse of the traveller and up-grade our products accordingly. Today we are excited to unveil the chat bot for Facebook Messenger, a first in the Industry and a convenient way for travelers to quickly see travel options and make bookings. Facebook has a wide user base, and this chat option will enable travellers to experience Yatra in a seamless fashion without moving out of Facebook. Also the self serve and market place chat tools help ease the booking process and improve the overall customer experience.”

    Today’s traveller, thanks to the internet, is very well informed and believes in thorough research before deciding on their travel. Facebook is the largest social network and a number of travellers also take advice from friends before making travel plans. In addition, Yatra has a vast reach of almost 1.5 lakh Facebook followers who are looking to make bookings and enquiring about best deals. To leverage this audience, Yatra has launched an intelligent chat bot which helps customers search and book flights directly from their FB messenger. Itis an intuitive platform which helps consumer search in natural language and can handle even complicated queries. Chat bots let users perform tasks within messenger apps that would otherwise be done in a separate app. The company can use these bots to target users on platforms they frequent rather than making them download the company’s app to book.

    Yatra had earlier launched a holidays marketplace, as it enabled a wide range of packages and the best prices as buyers and sellers could directly interact and complete the transaction with no intermediaries. The marketplace chat platform that has just been launched serves as a direct connect between the customer and the re-seller. It has been built with the ability to have text based chats or direct voice calls. Customers can also share attachments via the chat. Discreetness is given due importance with customer privacy being completed maintained.

    Yatra has also introduced a self serve platform that can answer customer queries as it works like an automated FAQ machine, where responses to generic queries are pre-fed. In addition, based on the kind of queries posted by customers, the base of responses can be enhanced making the tool all the more powerful and efficacious.

  • Meru Cabs now available on Facebook Messenger

    Meru Cabs now available on Facebook Messenger

    MUMBAI: Meru Cabs announced the integration of their cab booking system with Facebook Messenger to provide automated cab booking facility. Meru’s entire range of taxi services will now be accessible to Facebook users via Facebook Messenger and will allow them book cabs through key words, intelligent chat bot and conversational question- answers through the service called Meru Messenger Bot. With this new development Meru Cabs becomes the first cab services provider in the world to go live with implementing Facebook’s Bot services.

    Adopting the latest technology, Meru aims to widen their customer base by providing convenient and seamless cab booking access to its users. Facebook messenger users can simply search “Meru Cabs” on Facebook Messenger under ‘Bots and Business’ section and begin interaction. After the initial mobile number verification (one time), the user starts a normal chat with Meru Messenger Bot to book a cab. Once the location is shared on the chat box, the user is then directed to choosing sedan (Meru) or hatchback (MeruGenie) cab available for the trip with the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). Once confirmed, the Meru Messenger Bot responds on real time basis with the cab details along with the chuffer’s mobile number. The bot enables the user locate his/her cab & check the fare details.

    Commenting on the technology implementation, Mr. Siddhartha Pahwa, Group CEO, Meru Cabs said, “Simplifying our customer’s lives and addressing all their requirements is our priority at Meru. With this new feature, the process of booking a cab has become as convenient as chatting with a friend on Facebook messenger. Now, Meru Cabs is available to 150 million Facebook messenger users to book cabs in India.”

    Commenting on the technology implementation, Mr. Nilesh Sangoi, CTO, Meru Cabs said, “We are very happy that our system was accepted by the Facebook Developer platform and instantly integrated in the Messenger. We will continue to adopt unique technology products to de-clutter our user’s lives, ensuring convenience & accessibility of our services to them.”