Bubbly adds voice to blogging

Tired of texting, tweeting or updating messages on Facebook, try the new platform in social messaging — voice blogging.

Bubble Motion, one of the leading voice blogging service providers, is looking at expanding its Indian customer base, and has launched its iPhone application — Bubbly. The app is a social messaging service where people share SMS and voice updates with family, friends, fans and followers. The company expects its customer base to increase by 50 per cent by the end of this year.

Bubbly, which is at present ‘mobile-centric’ in its approach, will also be launched for the Android platform by the end of March. The company, which is already providing its services on Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, Reliance and Tata Docomo, is in talks with Aircel to introduce its services in its network.

“The iPhone application is just one of the initiatives to increase the user base by targeting the smartphone market. We will also be looking at getting more Indian regional filmstars to voice blog, especially those from the south and east,” said Thomas Clayton, CEO and president told Business Standard.

Voice-blogging so far is a phone service that allows people to share status updates in their own voice. It is very much like Twitter, only that it is not text and uses voice blogging and mobile phones. A user records his/her voice update in their phone, and their friends or followers are notified by an SMS and prompted to click and listen.

Clayton plans to use the current election fever in India to gain more users. The company is planning to rope in individuals from various fields like religion and politics into the service. Several sportsmen, including an internationally acclaimed cricketer, are also in the process of entering this platform, according Clayton. At present, celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Yuvraj Singh, R Madhavan, John Abraham, Ravi Kishan, Rituparna Sengupta and Sonu Nigam are available in the service.

The Singapore-based Bubble Motion is not new to the Indian market. With a user base of 15 million currently, almost eight million users are from India. An average 4.5 messages are sent by individuals weekly through this platform. This service is currently available in four countries, including Japan, India, Indonesia and Philippines. There is no charge to follow the voice updates from general public. However, a premium is to be paid to access celebrity posts.

Clayton opined that this model was extremely successful in India more than in other nations, because the celebrity fan following here is more intense. “Moreover, this service is not restricted to any particular platform, making it easily accessible to the masses. I believe that individuals would rather prefer to hear what a celebrity says than merely reading his views,” he informed.

Social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter have, in fact, added to the popularity of Bubbly, said Clayton. This has been attributed to the fact that Bubbly is integrated with the above social networks, wherein any audio post on Bubbly is automatically displayed on Facebook and Twitter.