We already know that LINE has been eying the United States for expansion, but there’s also another target on Naver’s list: India.

As part of its bid to expand the business before an IPO, the Naver Corp owned mobile messaging and calling app has extended its mobile gaming apps to India (via).

That’s roughly nine months after its competitor WeChat introduced WeChat Games.

LINE India head Damandeep Singh Soni told Economic Times that the goal was to increase its active user base within the country, which would also result in higher revenues and more net worth for the company; 60 percent of its revenues in 2013 relied on its social gaming platform. To that end, the company still hopes to cross 50 million registered users in India by the end of this fiscal year.

It will be interesting to watch the expansion of LINE into India as well as the U.S. and other countries. If you haven’t yet, you can find out more about and download LINE here.

LINE hosted its LINE Conference Tokyo 2014 at Maihama Amphitheatre today where it unveiled a number of new business ventures with one core theme: “life.” In addition to revealing active user counts for the first time the company also announced new strategic business ventures it would be undertaking over the next year.

Business ventures such as LINE Pay (not to be confused with LINE Play). LINE Pay is a payment system that will let you pay for a variety of services using LINE on iPhone or Android (no announcements for other operating systems like Windows Phone yet).

Payments can be made via credit card only by linking credit cards, paying at convenience stores, or by adding money beforehand with an account from an associated bank (Mizuho Bank or Sumitomo Mitsui Bank). There’s a “share payment” feature that lets you split the payments between you and your friends. You can “Send Money” to a friend’s account similar to PayPal or Facebook’s recently leaked payment feature for Messenger. You can also withdraw sent money using the “Withdrawal” feature.

LINE says it will have three security measures in place for LINE Pay

LINE says it will have three security measures will be set in place for the service: a separate password from LINE to act as a secondary verification, fingerprint verification via Apple Touch ID (iPhone only) required to view the password, and compulsory smartphone verification to use the PC site.

LINE Pay is planned for a Winter, 2014 release and will be available first for LINE and “related web services and apps,” and LINE plans to expand the service into its “offline shops and other venues” at some point in the future.

Then there’s LINE TAXI, a service that will be offered in collaboration with Nihon Kotsu Co., Ltd.

Similar to what users have experienced with WeChat’s partnership with EasyTaxi in Singapore, you’ll be able to call a taxi anytime or anywhere by using the LINE TAXI official account from within the LINE app.

Taxis will be dispatched to a certain location based on GPS info or building info and payment can be made through LINE Pay. The Tokyo-only version is planned for initial release this winter, with almost 3,300 of Nihon Kotsu’s taxis available through the service.

LINE plans to expand the service all across Japan in the future with 22,000 available taxis from 123 taxi operators associated with Nihon Kotsu through the “National Taxi Dispatch” app. The service eventually hopes to expand its business model worldwide through partnerships with taxi companies around the globe.

Another venture, LINE WOW is a food delivery service provided by LINE Bros., a company founded as a joint investment with the Woowa Brothers Corp., which is responsible for the development of Korea’s largest food delivery app “Baedal Minjok.” The service will open with a soft launch this fall, offering deliveries only in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, with a gradual expansion of shops, menus, area, and delivery times. Future plans aim to use the delivery infrastructure built up through food delivery to expand into a variety of services and products.

The LINE@ ID is an account that’s separate from the main LINE account that seeks to allow “private communication between family members, friends, and classmates.” Both corporate and individual users can create an account, and multiple accounts can be held at once. The LINE@ app will be exclusive to Android and iOS and will allow you to send messages to all of your followers at once, using 1-to-1 chats, posting to your Home and Timeline, and more. This service will be available this year starting in Japan with a plan to expand worldwide.

Other services include:

• LINE Maps for Indoor – a map application that specializes in navigating through commercial buildings such as shopping centers and department stores. Launching in autumn 2014 for Android only with support for “almost 40 locations in the Tokyo area” as well as Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, Japanese, and Korean language support.
• LINE Business Connect – offers LINE’s messaging feature through a company-oriented API, and allows each company to use their CRM base with LINE.
• LINE MUSIC – a subscription-based music streaming service that will be run by LINE MUSIC Inc. (name tentative), a company established through the triple investment of avex digital Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., and LINE Corporation. The basic details of the establishment have already been agreed to. Planned for release this year, the three companies are currently in detailed negotiations concerning the establishment of LINE MUSIC Inc.
• LINE Official Blogs – a blog service that will open the doors for artists and other celebrities to participate. By creating a LINE Official Blog, they will have access to all the capabilities and options to share information of a traditional blogging service in addition to the option to link the blog to LINE’s wide array of communication services, such as LINE official accounts, LINE Mall, and LINE PLAY. Coming November 4.
• LINE paid official accounts offer an avenue for artists and other celebrities to give exclusive information to subscribers of their official accounts. Compared to the existing official accounts, which allow the sending of information to a wide variety of users through LINE, paid official accounts allow celebrities to target their core audience and provide detailed information in much the same way as a fan club would. LINE Pay is planned to be used as the payment method for this new service.

With these new ventures, as well as its additional planned expansion of its social gaming platform (more on that later), it’s clear that LINE is planning on going it alone without seeking funding from an outside firm like many messaging apps have.

What do you think of LINE’s new business ventures?

LINE has just released a new version of its app for iOS and Android, which includes, among other things improvements to the report feature as well as new optimizations for Apple’s new iOS 8 software.

There’s a lot to digest with the new updates, which includes 4.7.0 for Android, 4.7.1 for iOS. The new changes are outlined below (via):

• Improved Groups for Easier Sharing of Photos and Events!
  Tap the top right icon on the Timeline to see a list of groups that you are a member of. On each group’s page, you can easily access the posts, albums, and members for that group. Save important messages as posts and carry on with your daily conversations in the chat to keep things neat and tidy!
• Posts
  The Notes feature has been renamed Posts and is now formatted in the same way as the Timeline. Messages added as posts to groups will also appear on all group members’ Timelines*. Unlike chat messages, posts are stored separately from chats and can be accessed by members who join in later. They are perfect for sharing important information.

  * Please be assured that group posts are only displayed on the Timelines of group members and are not visible to anyone else.

• Albums
  Share your favorite moments with the group! Photos in chats expire after a certain period, but in albums, they stay eternal. Friends who join later can see how much fun you’ve had too!
• Members
  View members and invited friends at one glance. Invite new friends or cancel invitations on this page too.

  Posts and albums are also available in 1-on-1 chats. Tap the icon in the top right of the chat to see them.

Other updates to the LINE app for iOS and Android include:

• Widened area of report feature. Now all chats and Timeline posts can be reported.
• Added support for preview of animated stickers in sticker suggestions.
• Increased maximum number of recipients to 10 when forwarding chats or links (for iOS).
• LINE will continue to listen to your voices and update the app to provide a more convenient and secure service.

You can download the new updates right here and post your thoughts on these changes in the comments below.

Nimbuzz is partnering with Aniways (read the guest post written by its CEO right here) to bring “more intelligent” emoticons to the popular chat app.

In a time of stickers and Emoji, emoticons are often overlooked despite being a part of chat applications since the days of Windows Live Messenger version 1. Nimbuzz’s latest partnership aims to bring emoticons grinning and winking to the forefront again with Smarticons.

“an entirely new and innovative way for you to add emotions and expressions”

Smarticons are “an entirely new and innovative way for you to add emotions and expressions to your text messages,” says the messgaing provider. “With every word you type, Smarticons give you the opportunity to turn them into cool images.”

The catch? You have to be on iOS and Android to take advantage of the new Smarticons. Those of us on Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 will not be able to take advantage of the new feature, at least not yet. Nimbuzz is pretty good at updating its Windows Phone app with new features, so we’ll likely see that platform gain support for the new Smarticons in the coming months.

To get started on iOS and Android, download the latest update here.

Skype has just launched a new video messaging app that’s meant to function alongside the company’s VoIP product. The new app, Skype Qik lets you do more than send only text or photos. It also lets you send full video.

Here are some of the features you can look forward to seeing on the new app, which is available on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone:

• Create groups in a flash: grab a bunch of friends from your phone’s address book and start a private chat.
• Erase your message and it disappears from the conversation.
• Keep it fresh—messages are automatically erased from Qik after two weeks.
• Start a conversation any time—no login, usernames, or passwords needed.

The new app is the result of Skype’s purchase of Qik in a few years ago.

“It’s easy to swap video messages with groups of friends and show everyone what’s happening down at the pub, catch up on the latest gossip, or make everyone jealous with your thrift shopping finds,” Skype team said about the service on its blog. “But don’t worry, your silly videos won’t live on for all eternity and come back to haunt you. Each video lasts exactly 2 weeks. And if you send a message by mistake, or don’t like the video, don’t panic! You can erase any video you’ve sent from the chat, whether it’s been watched it or not. If you don’t want to receive messages from someone, you have the ability to block contacts on Android and Windows Phone. This feature will be available on iPhone in the coming months.”

You can download Skype Qik on Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone. What do you think of the newest Skype app?

cameoNet is a new secure messaging service for iOS and Android, and coming soon for Windows Phone, that provides complete end-to-end encryption and integrated functionalities for mail and messenger apps.

The open source app was founded in 2013, made in Germany, and is run by a team of 10 people. cameoNet takes the particular needs of private and professional users into account simultaneously, so anyone can use the application to keep their messages private and secure. You can even use the messaging service anonymously.

“anyone can join us and reach all of his or her contacts”

“To underline the quality of cameoNet we are Made in Germany as well as Open Source. We are present on all devices; anyone can join us and reach all of his or her contacts, even the anonymous usage is possible. Everyone is invited to compare ourselves against prominent competitors like WhatsApp, Threema and Telegram.”

For private users cameoNet is now available for free as a web solution under www.cameonet.de/m (German) or cameonet.com (English), or as mobile app at Google Play. The release of the app on iOS devices is imminent, and cameoNet will also be coming to Windows Phone as early as November.

If you’re using the new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6+, you might be happy to know that Skype‘s latest update optimizes the popular calling and messaging software for your devices.

That’s not all the new update (version 5.6) packs under the hood either. Other changes include:

• Presence indicators are now displayed in the “recent” list
• Number of contacts and time zones are now shown on contact profiles
• Individual conversations can be marked as read/unread
• Notification sounds are disabled in “Do not disturb” mode
• General Improvements

Skype has really been laying the experience improvements on thick lately. Recently, Outlook.com improvements were rolled out, along with enhancements to Skype for desktops, both of which were rolled out in the last week. In fact, Skype announced at the beginning of the month that investments and improvements were on the way.

So after you’ve finished trading video messages with your friends and family, you can get the latest Skype here.

Earlier today, LINE launched a version of its popular messaging application for the Apple iPad.

Similar to how you use the PC iteration, all you need to do is enter the email address and password registered to your smartphone LINE account to load your friends list and use your purchased stickers on your iPad tablet.

This means you can use LINE on iPad’s bigger screen to communicate with your friends and family without having to squint at the screen. Those of us on Windows 8 have been enjoying full-touch communication with LINE for over a year, so it’s great to see more tablets getting the support.

It’s worth noting that you’ll need to re-download the stickers you’ve purchased on the smartphone version by going to Settings > Stickers. Once you’ve done so, you’ll be able to use them in your conversations.

You can download the new iPad version of LINE using this QR code. What do you think of the new iPad app?

It’s been a few days since we last received a new sticker set from imo.im, and today marks the end of that short dry spell with the launch of the Fledgie sticker set.

Fledgie is an owl that looks like he’s seen warmer days as you can see from the animated sticker depicted here courtesy of imo.im. There’s also non-animated stickers available. The character was designed by imo sticker designer Jucel Meneses.

Stickers have largely replaced emoticons in many mobile messaging apps. In addition to being able to offer more complex emotions, they’re also more colorful and vibrant, and they can be localized to fit different cultures around the world far more easily than emoticons can.

Like other sticker’s on imo’s messaging application, the Fledgie stickers are being offered free of charge to users. To download this set and others, you’ll need to have the latest version of imo.im installed on your device. imo.im is currently available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Amazon apps

With the unveiling of Apple’s iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 today, I’ve been getting a few emails from customers of travel SIM cards about what the devices — in particular their built-in Apple SIM — means for global wireless providers.

The new technology, now built into the new devices, lets you pick whatever carrier you want to from a list inside the iOS software. This could potentially solve a number of problems customers have with installing or swapping SIM cards when going overseas.

However, let’s be clear. Currently, the technology is limited to some carriers in the US and in the UK, such as EE, AT&T and T-Mobile US and so it does not yet apply (and there’s no indication from Apple that it will in some time) to travel SIM cards. Right now, with the service only recently launching and the limited footprint it has right now, it’s too early to tell what Apple’s future plans are. It’s not even available on iPhone yet, but I’d be surprised if it’s not there shortly.

the Apple SIM technology is limited to some carriers in the US and in the UK

Even if the travel SIM cards are ever mentioned as possible candidates for the service, or even with the national SIM cards that are forthcoming, Apple notes that its list of carriers could change at anytime, so it sounds like it could be a fluid rollout for awhile.

Apple explains the new feature like this on its website:

The new Apple SIM is preinstalled on iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi + Cellular models. The Apple SIM gives you the flexibility to choose from a variety of short-term plans from select carriers in the U.S. and UK right on your iPad. So whenever you need it, you can choose the plan that works best for you — with no long-term commitments. And when you travel, you may also be able to choose a data plan from a local carrier for the duration of your trip.

The iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 were announced alongside the iMac with Retina display and an updated version of the Mac Mini. The iPad Air 2 goes on sale beginning tomorrow. As far as international carriers though, I’ll keep my ears peeled for any new information. For now, you can keep on roaming as you always have, and I hope this clears up a few things.

Snapchat has started to become an entire entertainment platform of its own. After gaining a $20 million investment and launching Our Story to all Snapchat users early last month, the app has managed to attract the attention of younger users, particularly in the U.S. and the U.K.

In a bid to continue its dominance in this sector, Snapchat launched its new “Our Campus Story” feature today at UCLA, USC, Penn State, and UT Austin. “Our Campus Story” is similar to other “Story” features, but it lets students post snaps of what’s happening around town to one unified Story for their college. The new feature is open only users present on campus.

Snapchat will moderate every Campus Story that’s send by users to make sure they’re appropriate for distribution

There’s also going to be some monitoring involved by Snapchat, as it plans to moderate each and every Campus Story that’s sent in and will only allow the appropriate Snaps to be disributed to the Our Campus Story community.

With Stories and its predominantly younger audience, Snapchat has opened itself up to a wave of potential monetization in which advertisements can be shown in Stories. On average, users check the app 14 times per day and are 2.5 times more likely to use the service over competitors like WhatsApp.

It’ll be interesting to see how Our Campus Story potentially changes the Snapchat business. What do you think of the new feature?

Late yesterday, Facebook Messenger received an update for iOS devices that added a pretty interesting new function to the mobile messaging application.

Specifically it added the ability to add colorful drawings and text to photos from your camera roll before you send them. This gives you a level of message customization beyond anything that Facebook has ever offered its users before.

Facebook does some updates to its app every two weeks. Some of these updates are small, but every now and then, a feature like the one described here is added. Facebook’s ability to be consistent with updates may allow it an easier way to compete with a growing number of messaging apps on the market.

Of course where would an update be without the usual round of bug fixes? These are here, too, though Facebook didn’t break down which bigs were fixed. Still, improvements to the status quo are always welcome.

You can download the new Facebook Messenger using this QR code.

What do you think of the new functionality?

Snapchat launched an advertisement over the weekend –it’s first ever — that apparently creeped a few Twitter users out. Depicting

Snapchat has said that it wants the ads to be a better part of the experience:

“We won’t put advertisements in your personal communication – things like Snaps or Chats. That would be totally rude. We want to see if we can deliver an experience that’s fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted. It’s nice when all of the brilliant creative minds out there get our attention with terrific content.”

The first ad was a movie trailer for Ouija and gave users a 20-second preview that a got a few users on Twitter to get a little vocal about how much it “creaped them out,” though many users thought it was perfectly okay.

What did you think of the new ad for Ouija or about Snapchat ads in general? Post your thoughts in the comments.

(image: Universal Pictures)

There are a lot of messaging apps out there, but only a fraction of these apps have an active user count that exceeds 100 million or more.

One of these, Naver’s LINE, now has 30 million registered users in India, up from 10 million this time last year. The app also has 600 million users, up from 560 million earlier this month.

Out of those 600 million, only about 170 million are monthly active users, while the rest are “registered” but are not necessarily active.

Line spokesperson Damandeep Singh Soni revealed the number a few days ago. As it looks to keep a large user count in the face of larger rivals like WhatsApp, LINE has been partnering with companies in the region, including Groupon, in order to offer its users special deals.

WhatsApp said in August that it reached 60 million active users in India, and is growing at the rate of three million active users a month in India alone, giving even LINE’s registered user count a run for its money.

LINE has a vast and growing gaming platform and is also working on a number of business ventures to help it stand apart from the crowd. The app is available for most major mobile platforms.

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is working to be a much stronger competitor against a growing messaging market and to that end is adding new features to its upcoming version 2.5 app.

Version 2.5 is currently in beta, and the upcoming update according to BlackBerry will add a number of new features to its arsenal, including a disappearing picture timer much like Snapchat, something that Apple even added into its iMessage application for iOS 8. The timer will be able to be set from 1 to 15 seconds before the messages disappear forever.

A release date isn’t specified yet, BBM version 2.5 will be coming to Android, iOS, and Blackberry 10 in the near future. The new features are coming under a theme of privacy, with Blackberry billing them as “what you share is yours to control – even once it’s left your phone.”

In addition, users will be able to retract messages, similar to a feature recently introduced by WeChat. Both of these features should allow BBM users to experience familiarity with an app they already use.

There’s no word on if this new version will come to Windows Phone yet, but it’s highly likely, though it may not be for some time. Stay tuned to TruTower for more information on version 2.5.

Do you think these are good changes?

Back in July, lettrs launched on Android in an attempt to bring the art of letter writing back to the mainstream messaging audience. Today the social messaging platform released its latest iPhone and new native iPad application for hand-signed messages that recreate personal letters for a mobile world.

The free iPhone app is an extension of its popular Android app, and is powered by the market’s first-ever “social signature” which enables writers to hand-sign their messages. iOS users can select writing filters, attach photos, and tags, now signed as digital memorabilia, to create customized messages that are visually appealing, easy-to-read and meaningful.

“We challenged the misconception that social messaging has to be disposable”

“Our new iPhone and iPad applications allow mobile users to discover the art of letter writing … of slowing down, even in a mobile medium. We challenged the misconception that social messaging has to be disposable by making letter writing personal and valuable again,” said Drew Bartkiewicz, the co-founder and CEO of lettrs. “While other messaging apps seek to extinguish words, lettrs aims to distinguish them.”

The new iOS apps include:

• A collection of designer themes including a limited time “Humanity Collection”
• Geo-location stamping of signed lettrs messages, including photo attachments
• One-stop letter center to organize personal letter writing for private messaging or public letter writing, including the first & only personal autograph from an iPhone
• Tagging system for mobile and tablet users for easy searching and sorting
• Internal/native advertising space to promote in-lettrs events and personalities

Over 1 million users from 174 countries and in 80 languages have downloaded lettrs since its launch on Android in July. Lettrs is also one of TruTower‘s favorite new messaging apps on the market, as it offers something both familiar and new instead of copying apps already present in the space.

lettrs has also expanded with the opening of a new office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to help facilitate its daily operations and a team of 14, as part of its mission to deepen how people communicate worldwide.

“Our expansive growth and push toward a talented workforce in a new office location reflects our company’s commitment to transforming the future of written communication and to power the lasting mobile letters we knew the world could write. lettrs is engaging the permanent words in social, with a wildly popular response to counter secret and superfluous messages.”

The new lettrs application for iPhone and iPad is now available in iTunes.

Bulletin, a provider of cloud-based mobile messaging Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), announced today the release of a native iPhone app companion to its popular Bulletin Messenger messaging platform, extending the functionality of Bulletin Messenger to a native app interface.

The Messenger app extends Bulletin’s user interface beyond web-enabled devices so users are no longer required to use a mobile browser to connect with their contacts. The app creates a more native and convenient experience for Bulletin users and allows them to maintain communication directly from their smartphones.

“No longer tied to a mobile browser, Bulletin’s Messenger app capabilities provide users with a simple, accessible interface directly from their iPhone,” explains Jason Harris, Application Development Manager. “Combining the most effective benefits from Bulletin’s original web interface – including chat messaging, threaded conversations, and bulk messaging – this app offers a new level of simplified communication via both web and mobile data.”

Customers will be able to manage bulk and enterprise messaging from their phone

Customers will be able to manage bulk and enterprise messaging from their phone and take advantage of the recent rise in mobile devices. Bulletin allows employees of any company to receive mission-critical messages while on the go and communicate in a controlled and managed environment. Through this advanced interface, business and personal traffic remain separate and administrators are able to perform functions without disrupting personal communications on individual mobile devices.

“What makes Bulletin’s app unique is the level of constant connectivity with others over web and mobile devices,” says Michael Messner, Vice President of Business Development, Bulletin. “When leveraging a web-based network, customers have the ability to send and receive free OTT messages. If they are out of data range, Bulletin’s Messenger app seamlessly converts the message to SMS. It’s a very robust unified communications platform. No matter what the circumstances, you can be assured that your messages are received.”

For those of you on Android who are interested in the service, Bulletin has an Android app in the works and it is expected to be released in early 2015.

Telegram released an update for its iOS and Android applications today that adds a couple of really interesting new features, including one that echoes of an existing feature on Snapchat.

The option of adding a username allows you to share said username with others so you can contact more people without handing out your phone number, though a phone number is still required to register with Telegram. Usernames must be a minimum of five characters and can contain letters, numbers and underscores. You are also free to change your alias to one that’s not unavailable.

Snapchat-like “tap to hold” with timer arrives on Telegram

Telegram has also nearly cloned a Snapchat feature with a new feature that lets users “Tap and Hold to View” photos, video and voice messages that are sent with a self-destructing timer. The timer will begin once the content has been opened.

Telegram’s recent update for Windows Phone is the newest before this one for the company and added the ability for users to save videos to media library. There’s no word on when the new “tap and hold feature” or the username support will come to that platform. Telegram was only recently released on WP.

Earlier this year, Telegram revealed that it has 35 million monthly active users, 15 million of whom use it daily, which trails behind WhatsApp’s 600 million and WeChat’s more than 435 million active users.

Telegram can be downloaded on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

A few new stickers are now available on the imo.im messaging platform.

The first set features a character called Pandy, which imo.im reveals is the “cute little cousin of the wildly popular imo character PanPan.” The new sticker set was created by imo.im designer Dave Keller. The PanPan set was launched this past summer.

In addition to Pandy, imo.im wants to put you in the spirit of All Hallow’s Eve by sharing new stickers inspired by the creepy and crawly holiday with your imo.im friends. The new Halloween stickers in this set were created by designer Adam Record and are available for a limited time only.

As with other stickers on the platform, both the Pandy set and the Halloween set are being offered to users free of charge.

imo has been adding quite a few stickers to its messaging app, with Fledgie stickers added a little over a week ago. Stickers have become an instrumental part of many mobile communications apps today and have largely replaced emoticons and emoji as ways to express feelings and moods in messages.

You can get the above stickers via the imo sticker shop, available in the most recent version of imo.im. What do you think of the new stickers?

We’ve seen quite a few advertising campaigns hit many messaging apps in the past year or more. For instance, Tango launched native ads last year which make the ads appear to be a part of the application.

Snapchat, however, sees things a little bit differently.

Snapchat is taking a different approach to in-app advertising

Snapchat isn’t interested in making the ads seem native, according to the company’s COO Emily White, as reported by Business Insider. Instead, it’s taking a different approach to advertising.

Snapchat isn’t a fan of native advertising, according to the company’s COO Emily White.

The company will give advertisers their very own space to use on the app, completely separate from the messaging side of things, so that users can choose to interact with the ads or ignore them. We’ve seen this approach with the company’s new Ouija ad launched this week.

“It’s getting really confusing to users”

“It’s getting really confusing to users. They don’t like to be tricked,” White said at a GroupM conference in New York.

In the same blog post that announced the Ouija advertisement, the company posted a similar opinion on the subject, saying it wouldn’t “put advertisements in [users] personal communication – things like Snaps or Chats,” saying that doing so “would be totally rude.”

In light of this, the Ouija ran in the Stories section of the application, completely separate from the user contact list and messaging section. White describes the ad as “a piece of content” that is not a pre-roll.

What do you think of Snapchat’s approach?