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- Published: February 10, 2021 15:10
New Delhi: Koo App, a micro-blogging platform is fast emerging as an alternative to Twitter in India as many Ministries and government departments are making a beeline to join the Made-In-India App.
The Koo App is a decisive step towards realisation of AtmaNirbhar Bharat in digital space, making intentions of government clear. Its rising popularity gives a good indication of the nation’s mood for an alternative platform to Twitter.
The indigenous App, though developed about 10 months ago, is getting ample support from government as a couple of ministers have joined this homegrown social media tool. And, this assumes significance in wake of recent fallout from government and Twitter over blockade of some controversial accounts.
The Koo app garnered attention after it won the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge organised by government in August 2020.
Ministers who have joined Koo App
Union Commerce & Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Law & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Members of Parliament Tejasvi Surya and Shobha Karandlaje, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa have already joined the homegrown App.
Among celebrity figures who have made foray on this App include Isha Foundation’s Jaggi Vasudev, former cricketers Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble. In addition, the Union IT Ministry, India Post and the Niti Aayog are among the government departments to have an account on the app.
On Tuesday (February 9), Piyush Goyal joined the Koo platform and posted this.
I am now on Koo.
Connect with me on this Indian micro-blogging platform for real-time, exciting and exclusive updates.
Let us exchange our thoughts and ideas on Koo.
? Join me: https://t.co/zIL6YI0epM pic.twitter.com/REGioTdMfm
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 9, 2021
Several union ministries and departments including Common Services Center, Digital India, Digi Locker, India Post, National Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), MeitY, MyGov, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), and UMANG app and others have joined the Koo social media platform.
From India; For the world! ?#NITIAayog is excited to be a part of the #KooApp?, a winner in the Social category of the #AatmanirbharBharat App Innovation Challenge!
Listen to interesting thoughts by nitiaayog on the app – https://t.co/W6h1tMViQ8
स्वागत नहीं करोगे हमारा?
— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) February 9, 2021
Key features of Koo App
The social media platform was developed by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka in March 2020.
The microblogging site was co-founded by entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidwatka. Radhakrishna had founded online cab booking service TaxiForSure, which was subsequently sold to Ola Cabs.
The app can be downloaded from Google play store and iOS app store. It can be accessed from the web app too.
The Koo app supports multiple Indian regional languages. At the time of writing this, Koo supports Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Oriya and Assamese.