Tap is a new mobile app which is launching today. It takes a different approach towards reading stories on cellphones. The readers can read stories as text messages-like chats. The app is by Wattpad. Wattpad is a social publishing platform for authors. It was formed in 2006. The community includes 45 million readers worldwide. There are 250 million stories on the platform that people who visit the site or the flagship mobile app are able to read.
Now, Wattpad wants to innovate in the story entertainment market with Tap. It is stepping aside from the traditional format of storytelling to a new text messages-like chat approach. The text messages let users discover a more “chat style” stories. For those who are a bit confused, the taps unfold the story to reveal it in parts rather than the traditional page by page gig. Stories on the platform are made to feel like the reader is reading someone else’s chat conversations. The company even went as far to present it visually in a text messages like format. A conversation style that would grip the reader to continue forward in the form of, “taps”.
It is launching soon. The platform has hundreds of stories in categories like horror, romance, drama and more. The app will allow authors to narrate their stories as well. However, this is only available to a handful of experienced writers on the platform. In the weeks ahead will the company roll out writing and publishing functions to the user base on the app platform.
Shareability is a big factor for Web 2.0. The chat style stories are shareable to social networks through the app. Tap is a freemium service. Wattpad can generate a lot of revenue for its social storytelling platform this way after the launch of the service. The itself is free but there are a number of stories that require the option to upgrade to premium service-meaning the best stuff is costly and that means even stories. In the premium service the users can gain access to unlimited number of stories, which include the ones available to exclusive subscribers as well. The app with its premium service costs $2.99 per week and $7.99 per month. If you’re an avid story reader then we’d recommend the $39.99 subscription that covers you for a year.
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While it has a high rate of revenues there is also Wattpad’s expanding relationship with the entertainment industry. It has been expanding to Hollywood because of its dealing with Universal, Turner, comic publishers and many more. So this new platform is bringing out more straightforward profits that would boost up its position in the market of online reading.
In this niche, Tap is not the only app operating. There is another app in the market that offers fiction reads to the people called Hooked. It already has a chat style approach to storytelling along with the ability to write your own. Amazon Rapid is another player in the app market. It offers chat style stories to children and young adults. The app has recently launched a subscription service as well.
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In a much more broad sense, the app Tap goes against many storytelling apps such as Serial Box, Hardbound and even snapchat. Snapchat offers its own storytelling in the content available. So what makes Tap’s a bit more interesting? Well, instead of just showing snippets of the story the app makes it seem like you’re reading a conversation through someone’s phone. Like you’ve gotten hold of someone’s cellphone and are snooping around their texts. The target audience is more teenage and young adults who tend to spend a lot of time on their mobiles. Social lives are much more oriented in the virtual domain.
Tap is available for free on iTunes and Google Play.
Image via Fangirlish
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