On Koo, the perfect (yet predictable) content trifecta — Republic, the Justice for SSR conspiracy theory (which is a cause dear to Arnab/Republic), and social network nationalism (hashtags like “bharatiya social media”) using sentiment against Twitter. Amazing.

The real interesting thing worth watching out for, is if these Koo revolutionaries (borrowed from a Republic hashtag) will leave Twitter.

The answer is no, they won’t. They’ll sit here, they’ll continue to mope about Twitter and its actions. They’ll threaten. They won’t.

Koo is what is defined as an “alternative social network” much in the mould of Parler/Gab etc. These networks attracted users who were frustrated with larger social networks — Twitter and Facebook.

“Free speech” without content moderation was the sell they made to these users.

They followed. With Koo, things are a little different. To the layman (and some of us who follow tech/policy) this seems like a leverage-building move at a time when Twitter has been under the cosh from the government.

Koo offers that alternative now. Also Atmanirbhar narrative

But you have to understand Koo slightly differently. Not as a straight-jacket social network. Any successful (or aspiring) social network needs engagement (read: content and users) to be successful.

How does Koo do it? An ecosystem model ft Republic and Mitron. Easy.

On Jan 26, Republic announced the Republic-Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, which included “editorial partnerships” with Koo and Mitron.

One leg, you have Republic’s constant content creation stream + Mitron’s short video content is the second leg. Koo becomes the third leg.

This is also, in my view, an interesting growth hack. Constant promotion of the platform on a broadcast channel (or two) that is viewed by millions.

I’m assuming users also get access to some of the content from that channel.

Will Twitter become redundant for these users? If you believe some of them, sure. But for the vast majority, Twitter is where they get to troll/abuse people they don’t like and don’t agree with. Call them out etc

Would they get to do that on Koo? No. 101 on why alt-networks fail

On Parler, the MAGA right or the Trumpist base did not have a chance to “own the libs”, a key element of their belief systems. Because there were no or very little libs on Parler (curious ones).

From WaPo. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/parler-conservatives-still-on-twitter/

How it actually works: “Conservative provocateurs have mastered the art of getting attention and amplifying opinions on the very social networks they so roundly criticize.”

Koo, Parler etc are insular communities of like-minded folks — splinternets on ideological lines.

Also, considering how gung-ho some sections of people are about Koo (obviously on A side of the political divide), it will become one more platform where they’ll share the same message. Select text — post to all (networks).

But Republic did something different and interesting.

It used Twitter to drive its users/followers to its Koo handle where it was live Koo-ing (shall we call it that?) the debate with Goswami.

But I’m skeptical of alt-networks long-term. What Koo has today is the (apparent) backing of the government and sentiment. What they don’t have? So-called network effects. Parler, with all the Trumpian endorsements + Fox News/OANN/Newsmax anchor base peaked at 1.5 million DAUs.

But as always, let’s see. Should be fun. In case you guys want to follow me, I am @/KooAnon on Koo.

Proof.

A good question worth asking: Does this platform have a content moderation policy or community guidelines in place? If not, this could be worth watching, esp if the sell is "free speech". At the moment it seems to be Atmanirbhar alternative etc.

Amazingly, there are Republic hashtags in the "In the News" section. Exclusively. Not to be confused with "trending hashtags."