Viber launches Public Chats in India

Buoyed by the fast growing number of users in India, the mobile communications app, Viber, offering free messaging and calls, Tuesday launched new feature Public Chats in India, a top company official said here.

"We have the highest number of users from India. Of our present 460 million users, 33 million are from India, followed by the US, Russia, Brazil and the UK," Mark Hardy, chief marketing officer, Viber told IANS.

Public chats will allow users to share content, have conversations and interact with communities on mobile. These chats are live discussions between celebrities and personalities that Viber users can follow.

They offer a new kind of social experience - tapping into live conversations as they happen. Anyone on Viber can follow as many of these chats as they like on their mobile device.

Conversations are multi-media and include text, photos, audio, video, stickers, web links and more. Users can invite friends to follow the Public Chats that interest them, and can share content.

"I'm delighted to be here in India to celebrate the launch of Public Chats. We try and promote as much local content as much as possible in every country. May be that is the reason we are seeing so much of growth. In India we grew 130 percent year-on-year. Globally we add 1 million users every week," he added.

"The release of Public Chats on Viber allows people to interact in a new way, listening to live discussions and staying up-to-date with exclusive content from the people and interests that matter to them most. We are launching this with a great line-up of celebrities, personalities, brands, influencers all over India," Anubhav Nayyar, country head-India, Viber said.