Jongla re-booted to offer a multi platform mobile messaging app for modern-day smartphones, With the app now available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Firefox OS, the latter a sign Jongla has one eye on emerging markets. But sceptical, I remained.
In part, the plan was to focus on a very youth-oriented positioning of its app, with an emphasis on cartoon-y virtual stickers from the get-go. Another was to go far and wide in terms of device support, But sceptical, I remained.
Today, the company is rolling out its new ‘Channels’ feature that enables brands and celebrities to use the app as a way to ‘engage’ with customers and fans, by offering content and special offers to those that join the channel. Yes, folks, on the surface at least, it’s a me-too feature we’re already familiar with in other mobile messaging apps like BBM, Line, KaikaoTalk, and so on. And, of course, it’s yet another attempt at monetisation through ‘engagement marketing’.
However, as derivative as the feature appears, it’s a sure sign Jongla feels it now has enough traction to get the interest of major brands. Microsoft is one of the first companies to have signed on.
This includes adding a bio, cover image, avatar and homepage link. From there on in, they can set up auto-replies and welcome messages to new fans, as well as start engaging with existing ones through sending messages, images, ‘stickers’ and YouTube videos. The usual social media marketing affair.
The company, which competes with a plethora of social messaging apps including WhatsApp, Viber, Yuilop, Facebook Messenger/Poke, Line, and Snapchat, has its legacy in apps for feature phones, but at the beginning of this year re-booted with the launch of its youth-oriented and free social messaging app targeting modern smartphone platforms.
It hoped to cut through a noisy marketplace with its emphasis on “personalisation” — specifically with the ability to send animated virtual stickers, a fun and beefed up form of emoticons that doesn’t seem like such a differentiator nearly 11 months on.
Like other mobile social messaging apps, Jongla is designed to circumvent the need to use SMS text messaging by piggybacking a user’s data connection to offer an Instant Messenger-like experience. Along with a colourful and cartoony design and those animated stickers, the app offers features such as syncing with the phone’s address book, the ability to send images directly from the phone’s camera roll to any contact, location sharing, and real-time feed back when a recipient is typing.
In part, the plan was to focus on a very youth-oriented positioning of its app, with an emphasis on cartoon-y virtual stickers from the get-go. Another was to go far and wide in terms of device support, But sceptical, I remained.
Today, the company is rolling out its new ‘Channels’ feature that enables brands and celebrities to use the app as a way to ‘engage’ with customers and fans, by offering content and special offers to those that join the channel. Yes, folks, on the surface at least, it’s a me-too feature we’re already familiar with in other mobile messaging apps like BBM, Line, KaikaoTalk, and so on. And, of course, it’s yet another attempt at monetisation through ‘engagement marketing’.
However, as derivative as the feature appears, it’s a sure sign Jongla feels it now has enough traction to get the interest of major brands. Microsoft is one of the first companies to have signed on.
This includes adding a bio, cover image, avatar and homepage link. From there on in, they can set up auto-replies and welcome messages to new fans, as well as start engaging with existing ones through sending messages, images, ‘stickers’ and YouTube videos. The usual social media marketing affair.The company, which competes with a plethora of social messaging apps including WhatsApp, Viber, Yuilop, Facebook Messenger/Poke, Line, and Snapchat, has its legacy in apps for feature phones, but at the beginning of this year re-booted with the launch of its youth-oriented and free social messaging app targeting modern smartphone platforms.
It hoped to cut through a noisy marketplace with its emphasis on “personalisation” — specifically with the ability to send animated virtual stickers, a fun and beefed up form of emoticons that doesn’t seem like such a differentiator nearly 11 months on.
Like other mobile social messaging apps, Jongla is designed to circumvent the need to use SMS text messaging by piggybacking a user’s data connection to offer an Instant Messenger-like experience. Along with a colourful and cartoony design and those animated stickers, the app offers features such as syncing with the phone’s address book, the ability to send images directly from the phone’s camera roll to any contact, location sharing, and real-time feed back when a recipient is typing.
