The Tribe app takes another step in its “don’t text” policy by providing its users with new technologies that will make online chatting and instant messaging even quicker than before. Instead of wasting your precious time to fumble with buttons in order to write down a long text message, Tribe is an iOS and Android walkie-talkie app that lets you record a video message by simply holding down the screen. However, it didn’t take too much time before users started requiring the option to write down stuff that needs to be read or copy-pasted such as addresses and phone numbers.
Cyril Paglino, CEO and founder of Tribe, found a solution to this problem in the latest Version 2 update of the app in what he calls an “augmented messaging” feature. Basic functions didn’t change by a bit, but now when you send your asynchronous video message, the app will automatically add subtitles on the fly. And if you said a “Magic Word” that is recognized by the software, Tribe will add a helpful related link to it. Obviously, Magic Words could open a lot of opportunities to monetize these links by adding affiliations with Amazon or eBay, just to make an example. It can also improve the user’s digital experience by making it even more “smart” thanks to a potential integration with other apps such as car sharing or hotel renting apps.
Paglino is confident that new voice recognition technology will make Facebook Messenger and Snapchat obsolete as people will get used to using just voice instead of text. The venture capital firm Sequoia provided a $3 million seed investment to fund the startup’s next steps. From online meetings to advanced customer service and prospect communication, the use of online video chats is now more popular than ever since it allows people to talk face-to-face even if they’re on the opposite sides of the Earth. To date, Tribe allows pulling in Facebook friends to streamline its process of gaining mass traction. Zuckerberg’s social network, however, may decide cut off the potential rival’s access to outright kill its popularity. Yet Tribe’s best bet is to take full advantage of the fact that its video properties were built for mobiles since the beginning, while WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are nothing more than desktop IRC programs ported to smartphones.