Has your Facebook page recently turned very crowded with all the comic figures? Oh wait, they are not just ordinary cartoon! Look closer, isn’t these cartoons looks so familiar and just like your friends or even yourself? Yes, thanks to Bitstrips, a mobile app, which claims to be “the most customizable avatar-creation tool on the Web,” allows users to create and share comics of themselves and others with personalized messages. With more than 1,000 customizable templates and new ones added daily, users have endless opportunities to create comics about their day, their friends, pop culture or whatever is on their minds.
How does it work?
Basically after downloading the app or sign in with Facebook, you will have to create an avatar of yourself based on your appearance with customizable hair, clothes, facial features, body type and more. Then, you can sift through and choose from countless pre-made scenes and scenarios to set your avatar in. You can also create avatars for friends who haven’t already signed up for Bitstrips, or include those who already play along in your cartoon.After you’ve chosen the setting and characters, you can add the script by typing in your own dialogue and captions. From there, you can share your Bitstrip with friends on social media.
Bitstrip now has more than 10 million users downloaded the app since its release seven months ago the International Business Times notes. However, the company is bootstrapped, without any capital or external help, and uses virtually no advertising. This crazy fact makes me wondering what makes this app so successful.
In my opinion, Bitstrip really took the full advantage of the viral feature of Facebook. The game is completely social as it allows people to design avatar not only for oneself but also for friends. Facebook users generally love to tag or share with people when they see things that are interesting or relevant to people around then, thus by tagging friends, Facebook users helped Bitstrips to expand the brand reach. Also, since users are able to create their own scenario using Bitstrip, the contend of sharing can be view as a user generated content. Therefore, when people viewing at these pictures, they would think of the commercial side of the game but purely being joyful and doing the “free advertising” work for Bitstrip.
Just like the picture shows above, after posting onto facebook, your friends will be able to like and comment under your post just like they can like and comment with ordinary posts. From the upper left side, they would be able to see where you create this post which serves the purpose as a WOM marketing strategy.
Aside from being a good example of UGC practice, the concept of this game itself is also a good contributor to its success. Just like Bitstrip’s CEO said, “It’s a new way to express yourself and interact with your friends. Instead of posting the same things as everyone else, you can create something that relates to your life.”
Bitstrips also took one step further into the business work by developing into a educational tool for schools. Thinking and planing sustainably for it’s future development is another way that Bitstrip is working on to ensure its long growing business.
Sources:
http://investorplace.com/2013/10/bitstrips-app-goes-viral-facebook/#.Uoxl5GS8Cyc
http://www.ibtimes.com/bitstrips-explodes-after-mobile-launch-where-did-comics-app-dominating-your-facebook-feed-come
http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/