Ablo: An app to make friends in different countries

With the development of Internet globalization, more and more international platforms appear in people’s lives. Ablo is one of them, Ablo is a social networking service for instant messaging, developed by Massive media in 2011, acquired by Meetic, a subsidiary of Match Group, in 2012. Users of this software can not only make local friends but also communicate with people from all over the world.

What is Ablo?

Ablo was launched on Android, ios and web versions in 2019, and was evaluated by Google as the best app of 2019 in just one year (Nadeem Sarwar, 2019). There are 2.56 million apps available through the Google Play Store so being able to stand out among many apps shows that Ablo must have its unique way of attracting users. 

Ablo is a social software that allows users to make friends and chat with friends from all over the world at close range, as well as video chat.

Ablo has the following highlights:

-The platform provides a free chat service function, realizes a more convenient and efficient chat service function.

-Have a very accurate real-time translation function, so that everyone can communicate and chat without difference.

-Created a fun discovery mode to better discover more fun and interesting people. For example, the “virtual travel” recommended on the Ablo homepage is to allow users to randomly video chat with people from other countries.

In addition, Ablo has another function that is the live broadcast. It is free to start or watch the live broadcast on Ablo. If the user does not understand the language spoken by the anchor, Ablo can also provide the real-time translation. Users can also choose to connect with the anchor, and the anchor will gain fans from all over the world.

                                                    

 

 

 

                 Ablo logo, png-Wikimedia commons , some rights reserved 

 

As a platform for chatting and making friends, Ablo needs real information from users. First, Ablo requires users to log in using email or connecting to an existing Gmail ID. Then, the application will ask the user to fill in personal information such as name, gender, city, and date of birth. The app specifically mentions that it will not show your age to others. After uploading personal information, the application quickly listed some precautions for use, such as “Do not flirt” “Don’t force them to send photos or contact information” “Sexual/abusive behavior is not allowed” “Do not be racist, bully or violent” “Do not send spam”. After choosing to agree to these community rules, users can use Ablo.

 

The business model of Ablo

Among the 10 most profitable dating/social apps in the world for H1 in 2021 recently announced by apptopia, 4 of them are from Match Group, including Tinder, Pairs, Hinge and POF. As a new app launched by Match Group in 2019, Ablo’s main monetization method is for users to purchase virtual currency (Coin) . Open Ablo, the user can see the 5 main menus: Live, Discover, Ranking, Messages and Profile. In the Live section, most users who purchase Ablo Coin will put their coins here. Different from other apps with live streaming function, Ablo divides the anchors into global popular anchors and regional anchors. In the popular broadcast area, users can find all the broadcasters from all over the world who are currently live broadcast. The broadcaster with more people in the live broadcast room will be placed in a more conspicuous position; For the regional anchors, Ablo divided them by language, currently there are Anchor classification in 10 languages including Chinese, English, and Spanish… In order to promote user interaction, Ablo has also added a section that users who watch the live broadcast can apply for a 1-minute free video connection with the anchor. If multiple people apply for the microphone connection at the same time, the people behind will be enter the queuing waiting area and queue up for connection according to the order of application.                                                                        

                            

                                  A screenshot of the Ablo home page

&A screenshot of Ablo virtual currency

 

 

According to the hypothesis of the Neoclassical Economic Analysis Center mentioned by Robin Mansell in 2020, human beings will control their behavior in pursuit of profit and personal satisfaction (Robin Mansell and W. E. Steinmueller, 2020). Users who use Ablo coin will not get profit, but they will be satisfied on a psychological level. In the Ablo live broadcast mentioned above, sending virtual gifts to host broadcasters from various countries in the live broadcast room is one of the main ways Ablo makes money. In addition to designing exclusive gifts for VIP users, Ablo also designed gifts that represent a strong ethnicity for every ordinary user in the main market. This is actually conducive to stimulating the national self-confidence of users, thereby promoting users to give gifts to each other. For example, China is the dragon, India is the Taj Mahal, Germany is the beer, Brazil is the carnival mask, Canada is the maple leaf, and Israel is the Dead Sea. In addition, Ablo has 2 payment points. One is to obtain gender screening rights in “Virtual Global Travel”, which users can choose the gender of random chat users; the other is to obtain geographic screening rights in “Virtual Global Travel”,which is select the country or continent of users who randomly chat.

                                                           

                                       Adem AY , social media platforms, Unsplash

Nicholas A. John explained in the book The Age of Sharing that in social media and online society, the more common mode of participation is sharing (Nicholas A. John, 2016). People collaborate and consume on the Internet in exchange for higher profits. According to a report by The Influencer marketing factory, the agency found 17 influential influencers on Instagram and Youtube to promote Ablo. This kind of publicity is beneficial to the three parties. Ablo can gain higher exposure and downloads under the influence of these influencers; The Influencer marketing factory can put Ablo’s success stories on the agency’s official website to attract more Consumers; influencers who promote Ablo on Instagram and Youtube will get financial rewards.

 

Ablo’s challenge

Different from other social software models, Ablo is undoubtedly a successful and bold attempt, but as a “young” app that has just been on the shelves for two years, Ablo also faces some problems. According to the data provided by Sensor Tower, in September 2021, Ablo’s download volume was 1 million, and its revenue was 70k US dollars. In comparison, in September 2021, Tantan’s income was 3 million, Tinder’s income was 13 million. High activity and poor liquidity are the biggest problems Ablo faces. However, it is precisely because ablo is committed to the user’s sense of use and does not implant commercial advertisements that ablo can be well known by the public in just one year.

 

In Conclusion

On the whole, Ablo is a pretty active App. Ablo opens the basic functions of video chat to users for free, and provides real-time translation and ice-breaking links to eliminate user embarrassment. The process of users making friends can be regarded as “smooth” in the dating app. The entire monetization setting allows users to make friends without rushing. Users can match casually without fear of wasting their coins. Wish that Ablo can solve existing problems and challenges in the future and allow more users to make friends from all over the world .

 

 

Reference:

Google. (n.d.). Ablo – make friends worldwide – apps on Google Play. Google. Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=live.ablo&hl=en_US.

Sarwar, N. (2019, December 4). Google play’s best of 2019 awards: Check the winners. NDTV Gadgets 360. Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-play-best-of-2019-winners-apps-games-users-choice-cod-mobile-2143181.

Ablo – Instagram & YouTube Influencer Marketing campaign. Influencer Marketing Factory. (2020, July 10). Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://theinfluencermarketingfactory.com/case-studies/ablo-instagram-youtube-influencer-marketing-campaign/.