Viber adds video conferencing feature in Philippines

MANILA - Users of chat app Viber in the Philippines can now use its new Group Video Calls and have a video conference with up to 20 people with unlimited duration, the company said Thursday. 

Viber said that the added support for video meets the growing demand for large video calls to replicate face-to-face conversations and conferences. 

“We’re excited to enable users to participate in video calls with up to 20 people, and we’re going to expand this further very soon,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.

Social distancing has compelled people to rethink the way they gather in groups, making alternative online meetups not only convenient but necessary, Viber said in a statement. 

The chat app has been updated with a new “video” button at the top of the screen where participants can be added to an ongoing video call. 

Viber’s Group Video Calls also support features like screen sharing and video broadcasting for both mobile and desktop devices. 

"Group Video Calls give the speaker the floor, displaying their video for all participants," Viber said. 

Users can also mute themselves or disable their video during the call, as well as see if other participants are on mute or if their video is turned off. The new feature also lets users privately pin anyone’s video to their personal screen during the call. 

Video conferencing apps have seen a tremendous boom in the number of users worldwide after the coronavirus pandemic made social distancing the norm. 

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Viber, WHO launch chatbot to fight misinformation on COVID-19

MANILA - Viber and the World Health Organization have launched a chatbot to help fight misinformation on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the chat platform said Tuesday. 

The company said the chatbot is multilingual and interactive. 

"The chatbot, which comes in several languages, answers the most commonly asked questions about the pandemic and gives users important and life-saving information," Viber said. 

The chatbot features a Latest News section that is updated in real-time straight from WHO's website. Other main sections include Protect Yourself, Mask Usage, Travel, and an interactive Myths quiz to test the users’ knowledge of the virus, Viber said.

Users can also send help through a Donate Now feature to support WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

“WHO aims to reach as many people as possible with reliable health information through innovative digital technology,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Viber boss rose to CEO from bakeshop beginnings believing in big dreams

SINGAPORE—Djamel Agaoua checks the Viber app on his phone around after every 10 minutes for updates on the messaging platform that he now leads.

Coming from a family of bakers, the 50-year-old French CEO recalled how believing in his dreams pushed him to make a name for himself, and eventually become the big boss of one of the biggest communications apps in the world.

“Believe in your dreams. My father was a baker so it was not written that I would be CEO one day, not even of a small company,” he told ABS-CBN News with a chuckle.

“Sometimes, you don’t believe in your dreams so you don’t put yourself in a condition to achieve those dreams,” he said.

Agaoua, an economics engineer by profession and the youngest in a brood of 4, said his dream of leading a company was no easy feat as he had to support his parents since he was the only one with a college degree.

“I didn’t come from a rich family so I had to support my parents…But growing up, our bakery store didn’t earn that much so they needed some support,” he said.

Agaoua said he had always wanted to put up his own firm, drawing inspiration from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple’s late boss Steve Jobs.

“At the time Bill Gates was creating his company and Steve Jobs was creating Apple and I was really impressed by those guys and I wanted to start a venture but I couldn’t find the right idea,” he said.

“It was a difficult journey of course, but being an entrepreneur pushed you take some risk and to try to push it further and further,” he said.

After finishing school for free in France, Agaoua worked for a consultancy firm for about 8 years before co-founding AChatPro, a company that offers information technology services.

Agaoua went on to become an investor and board member in several other startups, explaining that the direction he is taking is his way of paying it forward after having businessmen invest in his projects in the past.

“Now, today, I’m an investor and support kids that have projects. The only way to make that happen is to knock on all the doors and try to find people who can make [your dream] happen for you,” he said.

For breadwinners dreaming of putting up their own company or making a name for themselves in the corporate world, Agaoue advises them to find people willing to invest in their ideas.

“They have to support their family of course, but the way I did it is that I convinced people that have money to support me and to invest in my businesses and it’s the only way,” he said.

Now, Agaoua continues to lead Viber, 2 years since he was tapped to head the messaging platform. Agaoua took the helm of Viber in 2017, just 2 years after the messaging platform was bought by Japanese international group Rakuten.

As Viber’s leader, Agaoua explained that he wants the company to put data privacy as its top priority as he emphasized the need to provide users with an alternative from Facebook’s Messenger.

“We think that it’s very important that there’s an alternative to this, a real one not an opportunistic one—one that is based on a very clear strategy…We are here to make business, to offer service that makes sense first of all, that works fast, well, and respects it promises and be able to monetize,” he said.

“I’m not saying that we’re gonna beat Facebook or be the winner at the end. These are not my words, this is not our philosophy,” he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Viber 'hidden chats' now available in Philippines

Messaging app Viber on Wednesday rolled out its new "hidden chats" feature for its 23 million users in the Philippines to boost security in one of the world's social media capitals.

The new option allows users to hide specific chats from the main screen and requires a four digit access PIN, Cyprus-based Viber said in a statement.

The "hidden chats" option is part of the latest version of Viber, which features complete end-to-end encryption across all devices.

The app update also includes increased security across the platform for both group messages and one-to-one communication.

Viber is one of the world’s leading messaging apps with more than 711 million unique users worldwide.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bye text message in PH? Expert weighs in as messaging apps surge

For YugaTech director Abe Olandres, the sudden surge of messaging apps caught the telecommunication industry unaware.

In the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, the top three apps in the Philippines based on monthly active users are Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Viber. Messaging apps also topped the list for other countries in the region: WhatsApp for Singapore and Malaysia, LINE for Thailand, and BlackBerry Messenger for Indonesia.

Olandres says this boom is partly driven by OFWs and their families as this system offers an easier and cheaper channel of communication.

Viber Southeast Asia director Crystal Lee adds that stickers are an additional feature of these apps that isn’t carried by SMS. For the Philippines alone, they generated 30-40 special stickers. She says the stickers are used “when they don’t have the words to say it.”

This surge, however, may not yet be the death of text messaging as not every Filipino owns a smartphone and Internet is not reliable in many provinces.

“The telcos are able to somehow come up with new services or new bundles to compensate for the loss of revenue coming from calls and SMS,” says Olandres, as both Smart and Globe offer postpaid and prepaid promos with data allocation for messaging apps.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Want your artwork to become a Viber sticker?

MANILA – Would you like your artwork to become a sticker in the popular messaging app Viber? If yes, then this contest is for you.

Viber, a mobile messaging app known for its stickers such as LegCat and Violet, is launching a global sticker design initiative called "Sticky Fingers" to find the artist who will create the next Viber sticker character.

“Filipinos are known for many things – creativity, talent, and wit among them, and that’s why we believe that our artists will be strong contenders in this competition,” said Crystal Lee, Viber Country Manager for the Philippines.

Stickers are a core part of Viber’s service, with millions of people using them every day. In 2014, Viber’s 516 million users sent 22 billion stickers.

The winning artist will be selected by a panel that includes Viber Creative Director Erez Shocher and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Hardy.

They will work with the Viber Design Studio to turn their Sticky Fingers character into a fully developed commercial Sticker Pack that will be sold in Viber’s Sticker Market.

The artist will receive a share of revenue every time the Sticker Pack is bought.

Their work will also be featured around the world via Viber and Talenthouse’s social media channels.

Entries will be accepted only until April 16 at 1 a.m. (Philippine Time) through www.viber.com/StickyFingers/Info.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why Viber is introducing 'public chat' feature

MANILA – Free messaging app Viber now allows users to "eavesdrop" on the conversations of celebrities and personalities through its recently launched public chat feature.

The public chat feature allows Viber users to view live discussions of public chat accounts and “like” specific text or photo messages.

Viber chief executive officer Talmon Marco likened the experience to watching a reality show, to maximize on the digital age’s fascination with celebrities.

“Public Chats for us is a fascinating social experiment. We are taking Viber to the next step in many ways by giving our users something new to do on the service. We are letting them address a need, which is universal and has been so for ages, and that is to follow what other people are doing,” he said in a press briefing in Taguig on Thursday.

“Public Chats, of course with the permission of those you are listening to, is allowing you to follow in a way that is really unprecedented the lives of the people you care about: celebrities, personalities, sports people, or just average group of people that have something interesting to talk about,” he added.

Currently, there are 25 active public chat accounts in the Philippines, which include personalities such as radio trio Boys Night Out, podcast hosts Becky Nights, and Manila Secrets.

Manila Secrets, which is described as a group that chats “about Manila’s hidden secrets,” is a group composed of Tim Yap, Bubbles and Paolo Paraiso, Divine Lee, and JM Rodriguez, Aiko Melendez and Aubrey Miles, among others.

Brands such as Globe, Smart and SM Supermalls also have their own chat accounts.

Marco said more local celebrities and brands are expected to open their discussions to the public, but the content is entirely up to the participants.

“Where this is going, we don’t know. That depends on where those who chat will take it and we’ll see what happens,” said Marco.

“It’s so much interesting to follow a chat than to follow posts. Chats are far more interactive and interesting,” he added.

Currently, followers of the chat accounts are not allowed to comment, but Marco said a comment feature may soon be added.

He said the feature is being introduced on a “controlled rollout” to allow the Viber team to customize and configure chat settings.

Around 300 public chats are now open globally, but Marco said interested parties can apply to start a public chat be sending a request to publicchats@viber.com.

“We’ll take a look at it, if we think it’s interesting, then we’ll give them their own public chat. Later on the objective is to really open it up to everybody,” he said.

The new feature is available for update on Android and IOS devices, and will soon be available on Viber’s desktop version.

Marco said Viber is looking to add functionality and more features to the app, while maintaining its core function of sending multimedia messages.

“Viber is about communicating and sharing with the people around you, people you care about. The public chat is really an extension of that, which are the people you care about but you don’t necessarily know,” he said.

Mobile remittances?

One of the possible features that Viber may soon adapt is a mobile remittance service.

“I think the ability to send money, which is something very interesting for the Philippine market, is definitely something we are looking at closely,” he said.

In September, Viber launched a video call service on both its desktop and mobile versions.

Viber is available for free for iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Blackberry 10, Windows, Windows 8, Mac, Linux, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada devices over 3G/4G or WiFi connections.

Viber has an estimated 209 million users worldwide, 18 million of which are located in the Philippines.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Viber launches free video calling for mobile

MANILA, Philippines – Free messaging app Viber is now allowing users to make video calls on both desktop and mobile in its latest version.

New features and enhancements come with Viber 5.0 for Android and iOS, and new versions of its desktop application for Windows, Windows 8 and OS X.

“We’re delighted to bring video calling to mobile,” said Viber chief executive Talmon Marco.

“Now that you can make video calls from your phone as well as on your PC and Mac, you can always talk in the way that’s most convenient for you, wherever you happen to be,” he added.

Viber’s video call service not only aims to connect friends and family, it is also envisioned as a necessary tool in schools, businesses, and office places for videoconferences.

Viber 5.0 also includes an upgrade in managing contacts by adding the Viber number or scanning a special QR code.

The new version also includes several OS specific enhancements on sticker packs and photo messages for iOS users; redesign and for Android users; new design, backgrounds gallery and bug fixes for Desktop v4.3; and new design, an updated snap mode with stickers, emoticons and notifications, bug fixes, the ability to see online contacts from the home screen and PNG support for photo messages for Win 8 v3.2.

Viber is available for free for iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Blackberry 10, Windows, Windows 8, Mac, Linux, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada devices over 3G/4G or WiFi connections.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com