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The video chat app that should scare the hell out of Facebook and Snapchat

Itโ€™s rare that a small startup is able to challenge the likes of Facebook and Snapchat in a meaningful way.But Houseparty, a teen-centric video chat app is managing to do just that. One year since launching publicly (the company spent several months in a stealthy beta), Houseparty has grown to 20 million users who together have participated in more than half a billion video calls (or โ€œparties,โ€ to use the appโ€™s terminology).

Twenty million may sound like a drop in the bucket compared to Facebookโ€™s billions or even Snapchatโ€™s 173 million users. But the video chat app, created by the same team who founded the once-hyped live streaming app Meerkat, is beating its bigger rivals in one important way: engagement.

The appโ€™s users, 60 percent of whom are under the age of 24, spend an average of 51 minutes a day chatting in the app. To put that in perspective, Snapchatโ€™s average user spends 30 minutes a day in the app. Facebook says its users spend an average of 50 minutes per day, but thatโ€™s across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger combined. 

Facebook has taken notice. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this yearthat the social network is working on a Houseparty clone called Bonfire as part of an aggressive bid to quash the competition.

Whether Snapchat is also feeling the heat is less clear. But as weโ€™ve previously noted, there are some rather striking similarities between Houseparty and Snapchat. Both have a very young and very engaged user base. Both apps eschew the typical trappings of a big social network, saying their service is meant more for โ€œclose friends,โ€ not the whole world.

Both companies attribute this success to their ability to connect their users with their โ€œrealโ€ friends so they can be their โ€œauthenticโ€ selves.

โ€œThis feels like a new way for them to connect where they donโ€™t have to be this polished, filtered version of themselves they put out for public consumption,โ€ Houseparty cofounder Sima Sistani says of the appโ€™s allure for younger users.

Spend a few minutes on the app and itโ€™s easy to see why itโ€™s so appealing to teens. Itโ€™s filled with emoji and other โ€œinโ€ jokes that might not make sense to the olds.

Thereโ€™s a โ€œghostingโ€ mode, which lets you sign in without notifying your friends, allowing you to stealthily choose who you want to talk to. You can โ€œpass a noteโ€ to surreptitiously text message someone in your current video chat without letting the other participants know. The app also just added a groups feature so you can designate specific friends you chat with frequently.

That may sounds like a whirlwind of high-stakes teen social drama, but Sistani says the app is building off social dynamics that have been in place long before there were ever smartphones.

โ€œThose social behaviors havenโ€™t changed in half a century despite major changes in technology,โ€ she says, noting that things like call-waiting, three-way calling, and voicemail all subtly changed how young people communicate.

Of course, even with the traction Houseparty has, battling the likes of Facebook and Snapchat wonโ€™t be easy, especially once one or both companies start copying core features. But Houseparty does have the advantage of a 20 million user-strong head start. Provided it can sustain the current engagement, itโ€™s not going to be easy for the competition to ignore.

Source:mashable.com

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