Globally, social media platforms have grown significantly. Users have increasingly relied on social media programmes for networking, news, entertainment, and other purposes. However, the most prevalent social media networks with a large user base are not from India. In order to fulfil that gap and allow users to chat, discuss and share their opinions Piyush Kulshreshtha came up with the idea of Khul Ke, an Indian-centric social media website.
During the exclusive chat with Jagran English, Piyush Kulshreshtha, CEO of Khul Ke shared some insights about India-centric social media platforms.
1. What inspired you to innovate this app?
The idea of Viksit Bharat excited us and highlighted the need for a digital public infrastructure to mobilise large public and private sector institutions towards constructive and developmental goals. India has a huge population of educated young people, who are eager to explore the frontiers of knowledge, social service, etc, and open to collaborating with complimentary forces.
To mobilise such a large population the institutions need a platform that provides not only the correct ambience but also a solid combination of networking technologies and the right engagement tools with this idea of Khul Ke was born.
2. In front of global giants, how does Khul Ke ensure to be a unique social media platform? What new does it bring to the table?
Khul Ke is aiming more at a digital public infrastructure that uses the base of social networking & a wide range of engagement tools rather than competing directly in the space of social media.
To give further clarity in a social media setup people are more aligned to participate in conversations around wider public debates; whereas, on Khul Ke our idea is to offer our platform to public and private institutions so that these institutions and their stakeholders are aligned with the Institutional Goal which might be more directly productive for the Institution and therefore the nation. Here the subject of their participation may be directly relevant to their daily lives.
3. How do you intend to incorporate AI into your app?
AI will be incorporated over the coming months and years to essentially personalise and customise the experience of our users, while also creating interconnected micro universes around a variety of public interests.
AI may also be used for the delivery of public service infrastructure and information & education-based content.
4. Are there any partnerships or collaborations in the pipeline?
We are pitching for some MSME Entrepreneurs Group, a Student’s Union, and also Govt. and Private Schools. While some collaborations are at the onboarding stage, others are at various stages of progress. We expect around 30 users to join Khul Ke over 12-18 months through these collaborations.
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5. What strategies do you have in place to enhance user engagement on your app in the future?
Our beta tests show that unless the engagement is organic, it is difficult to sustain it for long on social networks. We do see larger players also struggle and deploy a variety of BOTs that pick up old interesting content from the internet itself and recycle it in the hope of increasing engagement.
Since we are aligning our users to their institutional goals as the first level of participation, we believe the necessity for mobilisation itself will take care of engagement levels on our platform. We will be working closely with these institutions, training their teams in tapping this wonderful potential.
6. Can you provide insights into the upcoming content on your app?
At the moment we are looking at topical content and in the future, we shall focus on more educational content.
As election fervour grips the nation, we've launched a special series titled "Chunavi Charcha 24," offering insightful discussions on the political landscape. Additionally, in anticipation of the upcoming Olympics, our new series "Olympics ki Baat" aims to ignite users' curiosity with informative content on the topic.
Furthermore, we've recently unveiled "Mera Goan Mera Desh," spotlighting initiatives at the rural panchayat level, underscoring our commitment to showcasing diverse perspectives and stories from across the nation.
Our objective is to get distinctive narratives from India, designed specifically to resonate with audiences across the nation.
7. Please provide the total user base of Khul Ke along with details on the monthly active users.
Khul is too new for it to be subjected to these kinds of user metrics. However, at the time of our launch, the platform gained 1.7 million users who spent up to 15 minutes on average on the platform. Over the next 12-18 months, we hope to gain 30-50 million users by catering to the stakeholder mobilisation requirements of large public and private institutions with 15-20 minutes of daily average engagement time.
8. Which feature garners the highest usage on your app?
Our live video streaming feature RoundTable and our virtual meeting feature MeetUp stand out as the most utilised features on our app.
The high usage of these features underscores the popularity and effectiveness of these tools among our users. Our platform technological infrastructure ensures seamless functionality and user satisfaction, contributing to substantial engagement observed. We remain fully committed to continually enhancing our features for a better user experience.