27
de Setembre
de
2016 - 03:55
Commenting on a film with other users in the cinema, contacting attendees of a fair when they pass by your stand to speed up commercial relations or even making a call for help on chat from people around you because you have an emergency. These are some of the functions of Zonetacts, a new ephemeral message app that allows users to talk to and interact with people nearby who they do not know, and depending on your interests. "We do not want to replace any other app, we are offering a new high-value option," insists FrancescGrau (@FGrau), expert in digital communication and Zonetacts cofounder.
Grau is part of a team of four entrepreneurs who have just launched this new instant messaging app, with an initial investment of 50,000 euros, "to respond to the needs of the digital user that are not covered by any of the existing platforms at the moment."
You have spent the past six months analysing what the digital user is like...
He or she is a mobile user who does not want to be bothered but who does want to receive high-value information when he or she needs it. I would say that it is a user who is aware that they occupy a digital space. Ten years ago there was not the same awareness there is today. In other words, they are aware that they have a digital identity within a space and that their actions have repercussions in the future: the famous online reputation. Another factor is that the user is free. Before, when you went to the Coca Cola website, at best you had a 'contact' page with a form with two fields to fill in and a send button. That was all the interaction you could have with the brand. Now, thanks to social networks, that has been turned around. The user is now the focus; now it is the brand that wants to contact the user.
Are brands keen to make contact with this user?
Yes and the conversation has migrated from social networks to chat applications. People no longer post so much and the conversation on Twitter is no longer the same as it was six years ago. Now social networks are personal and corporate shop windows. People will go to Twitter or Facebook to do other things, such as for example to make public denunciations that will reach everyone or certain promotions looking for a mass audience. It is an excellent time for an app like ours and, even though it is infinitely difficult to compete in the same league as today's big players, if a new player joins with a proposal that is interesting to the user, it will be within the next two years. None of the major players have the Zonetacts proposal and, moreover, it is something that comes with collateral services that can link to the user's location and what he or she is interested in talking about with those around them.
Is it the user who is adapting to the new platforms and offers, or is he or she demanding new experiences in personal communication, like with Zonetacts?
There is now a certain balance between the user demanding certain actions and the brands being careful to line themselves up with these needs. The embryo of Zonetacts goes back to 2009, out of an experience I had in Washington during the 1st NASA Tweetup, the first meet-up of Twitter users organised by Nasa in its HQ, and where I was the only Spaniard invited. When I explained to the astronaut Mike Massimino what I did, he made a comment that had a big impact on me: "Sometimes I feel like I am listened to more on the international space station than in the office."
What is the difference between Zonetacts and other chat platforms?
Right now there is no app that allows you to talk on chat with people around you and knowing that what you say will be erased when the conversation ends. The sum of these elements is the core of Zonetacts and that opens up a path for us where, if any other app wants to share our journey, it has to blindly believe the same as we do.
Do you mean if another application wants to buy Zonetacts?
It means that if Whatsapp wants to incorporate some of these functions, the ephemeral chat or the geolocation of the user, it will have to come up with a different narrative than it has so far. We have our own narrative based on this moment of transformation and which is coherent with brands. We address a user who at the end of the day has a lot of opportunities to connect with people he or she does not know.
Francesc Grau during the interview with VIA Empresa. Haidy Blanch
It is very easy to create on the internet but very difficult to do business...
Zonetacts is a free app on which brands can pay for more visibility. With Zonetacts we have tried to take two steps forward, especially in the area of digital advertising. In other words, now in digital advertising we only have banners on web pages and ads on social networks. Our proposal is to have promoted conversations, an ideal proposal for brands now that they know how to maintain a conversation because they have practised on social networks.
What types of conversation can a brand have with a user on chat?
It is a good format for flash offers at the precise moment the user is inside one of the brand's establishments; or for offering help in that moment before or during the purchase... Most large brands are ready to make the leap to chat and talk to this user. What we are proposing is to do so with a communication format that covers more age segments: chat. Whatsapp is used by both my 12-year-old niece and my mother, who is about to turn 70. Now it is time to talk to brands via chat. No doubt Whatsapp will not take long to offer brands some functionality.
We can now order pizzas from Pizza Hut via chat...
Now one of the trends in the chat sector are chatbots. There is a US company that when you buy your ticket today, you can ask them what the weather will be like in your destination and they answer you with a forecast. In other words, there are brands with whom you can interact through a chatbot and enjoy a universe of services. A bot telling me what the weather will be like does not bother me. I understand that brands scale some services and provide them through a bot. However, if I want a quality service or I have a complaint and a bot responds, then I will get annoyed.
Zonetacts was created by Francesc Grau, Guillem Valero, J.M Mirabent and Eduard Rifà. Ceded
Grau is part of a team of four entrepreneurs who have just launched this new instant messaging app, with an initial investment of 50,000 euros, "to respond to the needs of the digital user that are not covered by any of the existing platforms at the moment."
You have spent the past six months analysing what the digital user is like...
He or she is a mobile user who does not want to be bothered but who does want to receive high-value information when he or she needs it. I would say that it is a user who is aware that they occupy a digital space. Ten years ago there was not the same awareness there is today. In other words, they are aware that they have a digital identity within a space and that their actions have repercussions in the future: the famous online reputation. Another factor is that the user is free. Before, when you went to the Coca Cola website, at best you had a 'contact' page with a form with two fields to fill in and a send button. That was all the interaction you could have with the brand. Now, thanks to social networks, that has been turned around. The user is now the focus; now it is the brand that wants to contact the user.
Are brands keen to make contact with this user?
Yes and the conversation has migrated from social networks to chat applications. People no longer post so much and the conversation on Twitter is no longer the same as it was six years ago. Now social networks are personal and corporate shop windows. People will go to Twitter or Facebook to do other things, such as for example to make public denunciations that will reach everyone or certain promotions looking for a mass audience. It is an excellent time for an app like ours and, even though it is infinitely difficult to compete in the same league as today's big players, if a new player joins with a proposal that is interesting to the user, it will be within the next two years. None of the major players have the Zonetacts proposal and, moreover, it is something that comes with collateral services that can link to the user's location and what he or she is interested in talking about with those around them.
Is it the user who is adapting to the new platforms and offers, or is he or she demanding new experiences in personal communication, like with Zonetacts?
There is now a certain balance between the user demanding certain actions and the brands being careful to line themselves up with these needs. The embryo of Zonetacts goes back to 2009, out of an experience I had in Washington during the 1st NASA Tweetup, the first meet-up of Twitter users organised by Nasa in its HQ, and where I was the only Spaniard invited. When I explained to the astronaut Mike Massimino what I did, he made a comment that had a big impact on me: "Sometimes I feel like I am listened to more on the international space station than in the office."
What is the difference between Zonetacts and other chat platforms?
Right now there is no app that allows you to talk on chat with people around you and knowing that what you say will be erased when the conversation ends. The sum of these elements is the core of Zonetacts and that opens up a path for us where, if any other app wants to share our journey, it has to blindly believe the same as we do.
Do you mean if another application wants to buy Zonetacts?
It means that if Whatsapp wants to incorporate some of these functions, the ephemeral chat or the geolocation of the user, it will have to come up with a different narrative than it has so far. We have our own narrative based on this moment of transformation and which is coherent with brands. We address a user who at the end of the day has a lot of opportunities to connect with people he or she does not know.
Francesc Grau during the interview with VIA Empresa. Haidy Blanch
It is very easy to create on the internet but very difficult to do business...
Zonetacts is a free app on which brands can pay for more visibility. With Zonetacts we have tried to take two steps forward, especially in the area of digital advertising. In other words, now in digital advertising we only have banners on web pages and ads on social networks. Our proposal is to have promoted conversations, an ideal proposal for brands now that they know how to maintain a conversation because they have practised on social networks.
What types of conversation can a brand have with a user on chat?
It is a good format for flash offers at the precise moment the user is inside one of the brand's establishments; or for offering help in that moment before or during the purchase... Most large brands are ready to make the leap to chat and talk to this user. What we are proposing is to do so with a communication format that covers more age segments: chat. Whatsapp is used by both my 12-year-old niece and my mother, who is about to turn 70. Now it is time to talk to brands via chat. No doubt Whatsapp will not take long to offer brands some functionality.
We can now order pizzas from Pizza Hut via chat...
Now one of the trends in the chat sector are chatbots. There is a US company that when you buy your ticket today, you can ask them what the weather will be like in your destination and they answer you with a forecast. In other words, there are brands with whom you can interact through a chatbot and enjoy a universe of services. A bot telling me what the weather will be like does not bother me. I understand that brands scale some services and provide them through a bot. However, if I want a quality service or I have a complaint and a bot responds, then I will get annoyed.
Zonetacts was created by Francesc Grau, Guillem Valero, J.M Mirabent and Eduard Rifà. Ceded