New Day – New Skype Update
With all the buzz and hype over emojis and GIFs these days, it’s no surprise that another Mobile Messaging giant, Skype, followed suit. Today, Skype announced a brand new update to their platform. As we all know, Skype is a messaging platform that lets users stay connected via mobile and desktop, through messaging, video conferencing, and much more. It has users all around the globe, and its usage varies from person to person. For example, there are those who use Skype to chat with family members abroad. Others may use it for business/professional services to stay in communication with team members and clients. I for one use it for team communication (along with Slack).
“A brand new way to express yourself” – Skype
Now for the update: Skype launches a new feature called “Skype Mojis.” – I’ve gone ahead and linked an article courtesy of VentureBeat. What are “Skype Mojis” you ask? Well, think of them as your normal GIFs – you know, those animated short videos that are being shared by millions across both mobile and desktop. However, “Skype Mojis” are a little bit different. According to the article provided by VentureBeat, these “Skype Mojis” are “short movie and TV clips from Microsoft’s partners.” So far, the current partner list includes: BBC, Universal Studios, and Disney Muppets. What this entails is: you can open up the Skype Emoticon tab, browse a variety of options ranging from TV shows or Movies from one of their partners, and send to a friend. However, there’s a slight twist, whenever a user shares an “Skype Moji” from its emoticons list, the end result will be a “semi-advertisement.” I’ve categorized it as “semi” because what essentially happens is:
- User chooses a “Skype Emoji” from the range of categories/partners
- User sends the “Skype Emoji” to friend
- User see’s a ‘watch link’ that once clicked on, directs them to Microsoft’s Windows Store
- Receiving user see’s the “Skype Moji” play – sees link to Microsoft Store afterwards
Screen via Skype’s Official Blog
It’s no surprise that Skype’s jumping on the GIF bandwagon, considering they’ve been the pioneers for animated emoticons since it’s birth. This new tactic of “Skype Mojis” with advertisements, just gets me thinking: Could this be the spark of new mobile messaging advertisements? Hmm……
If you want to get the full detailed report, click here to be taken to Skype’s Official Blog.
geeky_yang 