On the evening of 24th March, came the big order of the government. A country-wide lockdown! Total restriction of movement for 1.38 billion people,  outside of their homes as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 pandemic. The world seemed to come to a sudden halt.

Over the next few days, when the initial shock subsided, the need for tackling this immense boredom arose. The boredom that stemmed from being confined in the house 24*7. Video calls and Zoom meetings initially catered to the innate need of connecting with one’s friends and family. But soon, people were not content with just that, they craved for more. They wanted recreation; an urge to meet new people, make new friends and seek new romances. And it was just the time when Chatroom came to life.

One day when in the meeting room, someone suggested a chatroom kind of feature, the idea resonated with many in the design team. Before long, there was a basic skeleton of what the ShareChat Chatroom is going to look like. After six developers and one designer along with the constant direction from an experienced product manager and Ankush Sachdeva, one of the founding members worked relentlessly towards shaping this momentous idea, ShareChat Chatroom was born!

Sharechat Became an Instant Friend to Rely On

ShareChat tapped this necessity of people to interact with and seek validation from others to bring ChatRoom into existence. Currently, ShareChat stands to be the largest Chatroom app in the country with close to 10 million MAU (Monthly Active Users). YoYo, primarily an Indian dating app and Yalla, a UAE dating app, have 5-7 million and 4.8 million monthly active users respectively.

Chatroom became the first Indian audio platform to provide its users with an interface to meet and interact with new friends online where they can create a chatroom, send text messages, invite friends and can audio chat with the Chatroom members available online.

The Root of it All Goes Deeper Than It Appears

ShareChat Chatroom can be called an extended solution of its belief system whose foundational vision is to equip the local content consumers with an appropriate platform to come together and connect. ShareChat recognised the wide scope allowed by millions of Indian users not being able to express themselves due to the lack of applications available in local languages.

Let’s have a sliver of this monumental journey of an idea being vegetated to serve the majority of local language content users to gain 10 million monthly active users in the process that doesn’t intend to stop any time before reaching at least another 10 million users.

Even before Chatroom existed, users could form groups and post content after getting it approved by the group admin. Chatroom expanded the horizons for the users to make more versatile groups called Chatrooms. These groups are furnished with advanced features like the real-time flow of user comments, audio live feature and so on.

Chatroom as a Medium to Find New Connections

Here is what influential American psychologist Rollo May has to say about the importance of communication.

“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual intimacy.”

It was the peak of covid-19 last year in 2020 when the suddenness of rising cases and imposed lockdown had found millions of Indians either estranged far from their family or stuck within the four walls of their homes. People urged for communication and a sense of recognition from their own community. They longed for something to hold on to even if it meant meeting strangers and getting to share the feelings of mutual distress caused by the global pandemic. Soon, the Sharechat Chatroom emerged as a reliable platform for millions of users who found new connections to have wholesome communication and build a bond with every day. Let’s read some of the very first user testimonials taken on direct calls by the ShareChat researchers.

A user told our UX researcher about how he got stuck in a Goan hotel during the lockdown and was unable to travel back to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh. He got to know about the ShareChat Chatroom from his roommate and had made many good friends since. He created his own Chatroom with friends he met there and sometime later, he willingly deleted other popular social media apps from his phone because he didn’t feel the need anymore as he made so many new friends on Chatroom every other day. He particularly mentioned a friend he grew close enough to eventually meet offline a few months later.

In another incident, a user created a Chatroom dedicated to Mothers’ Day which later became an emotional association for many after hundreds of users shared heart-warming stories and memories related to their own mothers.

Another funny incident recalled by our UX researcher Rachita Bisht is about an amusing interaction among users in a Chatroom. When one day, a profile of a female user with a username, after a popular sweet Kaju Katli was added to a chatroom, all the other members instantly decided to jokingly change their usernames after Indian sweets too like gulab jamun, rosogulla, paniyaram and so on. This amusing coincidence turned into a ritual where all the users changed their usernames every day after funny themes which one day was decided to be an Indian wedding, where group members virtually created an authentic ambience of an Indian wedding by pretending to be baraat, pandit, bride, groom and whatnot.

The Initial Roadblocks Overcame

Blocking the Unwanted Attention

When we were taking the initial feedback from our users one issue that was repeatedly iterated was the miscreants. Chatroom didn’t have a direct “Report Abuse'' option when it was first launched. But users, after an added feature, can now directly report another user causing an unpleasant experience by simply clicking on their profile.

Sharing Made Convenient:

Similarly, soon after the launch of the feature, it was realised that people wanted to invite their friends who were not using the Chatroom but didn’t have any option to share the invitation link. Addressing this, the team added a shareable link that can be sent via different commonly used social media messaging apps like Whatsapp and Facebook to invite friends and acquaintances from outside the Chatroom.

A Notification of Pending Audio Requests:

Earlier when the feature was launched, users didn’t have any means to find out their position on the waiting list for getting on the audio mode. This was later rectified with a push notification feature where users are notified about the number of people preceding them on the waiting list. And as soon as their request is accepted, they are notified that they are now live on audio and their mic is on and ready to use. This prepares the user to initiate audio participation in the Chatroom.

Locking the Chatroom in the Absence of the Host

When the host of the Chatroom is offline, the chatroom still remains accessible for the members of the chatroom. This can be proved irresponsible sometimes when the members start arguing or creating chaos with no restrictions. This problem gave way to the locking feature of the chatroom where a chatroom can be locked by the host in their absence and users only have limited access to the Chatroom which further prevents any unwanted activities.

Gifting on ShareChat:

The revenue model of Chatroom compasses the virtual gifting feature where the users can show appreciation towards each other by purchasing from an array of virtual gifts. A user who feels impressed by another or just intends to extend a friendly hand towards another user can pick a gift from many gift icons with the value of each item mentioned under them. They can send it to any recipient of their choice. In case, they don’t have enough coin value needed to buy an intended gift, they can make a purchase from the app store. However, a new user is always entitled to a set of free coins that they can use to buy gift items.

Users on Why They Love to Gift on Chatroom

A user says he likes to gift items to the people on ShareChat Chatroom because he finds them really soft-spoken and kind while another user says he thinks it’s important to show appreciation towards others’ talent when they sing or orate so well to uplift their morale. While another user cited, gifting in general leaves him really happy so he loves to be generous to people on ShareChat too. These activities of mutual appreciation and support establish a lasting bond among the group members and chatroom users over time which also gives them a sense of belonging. 

ShareChat and its Chatroom has given millions of users a platform to come together and share an interactive and recreational experience with other users which also has often resulted in lasting friendships and cherished memories for many. We have come a long way on this journey to provide our users with the necessary tools that ensure a fun and entertaining time on our app. But we are still committed to making this experience even better yet with our constant experiments and observations regarding what users prefer.

Our next endeavour is to widen our audience by tweaking the user interface in such a manner that it appeals almost equally to the audience from different age groups. We want to tailor our app which is inviting for the youth that wants instant recognition and the senior adults as well who love to express and engage taking their own time.