India's Koo to replace Twitter in Nigeria? 5 new, unique features to decide if Koo's worth switching

Capitalizing on Twitter's indefinite suspension in Nigeria, India's homegrown social media platform Koo is considering making a massive push in Africa in a bid to widen its base. Taking a subtle dig at Twitter, Koo's co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna on Saturday tweeted that Koo is available in Nigeria, adding that the company is thinking of enabling local languages on its social media platform.

 

Nigeria became the first country to suspend the US-based micro-blogging website in the African continent on Friday. Accusing Twitter of double standards, the Nigerian government ceased operations of the social media platform after it froze President Muhammadu Buhari's account. Notably, Twitter had months ago banned former US President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting violence during the unfortunate breach of Capitol Hill.

 

 

Making the announcement on Friday, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed condemned the 'persistent use' of Twitter for activities allegedly capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence. The stern action comes days after Twitter removed a post by Nigeria's President that threatened punishment for separatists in the country's southeast region that officials have blamed for frequent attacks on federal property.

 

 

The indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operations in Nigeria has continued to generate mixed reactions from different quarters. Many described the move as an attempt to suppress the freedom of expression among the Nigerian populace. While some Nigerians have devised means of still using the microblogging platform with the help of Virtual Private Network, VPN, an Indian company has launched a new platform called Koo App in Nigeria. Here are some of the facts you need to know about the new micro-blogging platform to help you decide whether it is a platform worth switching over to while the suspension of Twitter lasts.

 

1.Koo App, formerly known as Ku Koo Ku, is an Indian social networking service based in Bengaluru, India. Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka developed the app, valued at over $100 million.

 

2.According to Sensor Tower statistics, an analytics provider, in 2020, the Koo App saw 2.6 million installs from Indian app stores. Also, Koo gives a Yellow tick when an account is verified.

 

3.The Koo app became popular after Twitter got into a week-long standoff with the Indian government after the Indian accused some people of spreading misinformation during the 2020-21 Indian farmers’ protest.

 

 

 

4. The app allows users to type by using hashtags. Also, the “@” sign followed by a username is used for mentioning or replying to other users.

 

5.Koo had, on 4 May 2021, introduced a new feature called Talk to Type, which allows users to leverage the voice assistant to type out a post using their voice.

 

 

The social media platform last year won the Government of India's Aatmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in August 2020 and is currently valued at over $100 million. Following the growing discontent against Twitter, Koo has received a major push in India with several Union Ministers also joining the home-grown social media platform which has expressed willingness to follow Indian laws, including the new IT rules, unlike the San Francisco-based social media platform.