Rakuten Viber, the world’s leading free and easy-to-use communication app, has undergone several changes to the way people communicate with each other due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is expected to increase usage in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.
2020 In December, the number of app users in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 421%. At the same time, Viber recorded a 509% increase in text messaging and group messaging. Viber’s community functionality has also improved significantly as a way to send messages to communities. These 2020 growth rates are based on 2019 data.
Myanmar, a market in the Asia-Pacific region, saw significant growth between January and December 2020, making Viber one of its highest in 10 years.
Viber continues to gain the trust of users in Myanmar due to its security features. Based on Viber user data, users in Myanmar are increasingly using the Viber community, with 195% of visitors joining the community; 88% increase in messaging within the community. Messaging to Viber Groups also increased by 32%. Viber has introduced several innovative features to make communication more lively, resulting in a 127% increase in Chat communication.
Viber provides top-notch services for users to enjoy the best user experience on all their devices. My Notes, which allows you to use media simultaneously. Birthday Reminders, which can be used to alert you to special dates added to your phone contacts. Disappearing Messages, which can be deleted at any time for long-term unwanted messages; New features were added in 2020, such as GIF Creator, to showcase user innovation.
In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, which encouraged people to communicate online, Viber last year increased the number of voice calls and group video calls to 20 at a time. The application has also become a key partner service that provides users with information about COVID-19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also introduced the Viber chatbot to answer public questions about the coronavirus. The Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) has also launched its own Viber Community to effectively share the latest important information in the country online.
To maintain the goal of user-centric in-app security, Viber decided in 2020 to eliminate Facebook and its business practices that misuse users’ data for profit. As an application that prioritizes security, you can stop advertising on Facebook; Facebook Connect and GIPHY functionality are removed from the application.
“We will remember 2020 differently from other years because we have faced many difficulties and challenges,” he said. At Rakuten Viber, we will continue to provide technical information to support the community and to overcome unprecedented epidemic challenges. When talking to colleagues in Asia, Burmese and their Asian neighbors work from home; With the help of technology, I became aware of the new normal habits, such as being separated from each other. We are encouraged by the public’s willingness to overcome this challenge because we understand our work ethic and its impact on our users. ” Anna Zanmenskaya, Chief Growth Officer of Rakuten Viber
In Myanmar, Viber has also partnered with MyTel and MPT to enable users to access Viber features with zero data charges. In addition, we have partnered with KoeKoeTech, a non-governmental organization, to create a Viber bot to support the community. In collaboration with an organization that helps expectant mothers make their lives easier, she created the MayMay bot, pregnancy and baby health app. Viber has also partnered with local organizations to launch Horoscope chatbot and sticker packs every Wednesday to check their fortunes. For the convenience of users in Myanmar, Auto-Burmese Converter, which automatically converts between Zawgyi and Unicode fonts.
Rakuten Viber will be 10 years old in 2020 and will be transformed from a messaging platform into a full-fledged app that includes new features such as the purchase of products and services; Chatbot has first introduced a payment feature that allows you to receive and receive payments directly within the app.
Over the past decade, user-friendliness has been a priority for Rakuten Viber, and new features have been added without compromising our commitment to keeping users’ data secure.