Could texting be the future story-telling? Looks like Tap, the new mobile app from the social publishing platform Wattpad is far ahead of its time in that sense. The just launched app allows users to read stories in the form of a chat thread set in the format of a conversation between two people. Just tap and see the story unfold in chat lines, one at a time, as if you are peeping into somebody else’s chat room.
Tap lets readers get a hang of things before jumping into the app. On the site www.taptaptap.co, there are tailor-made stories offering a quick glance over how reading the new ‘story book’ is like. The format mainly targets teenage readers of Wattpad, and to present it in a way they are more familiar with.
For some perspective, Wattpad is a massive network with over 45 million readers worldwide. On website and app, it posts articles, stories, fan fiction, and poems.
Currently, Tap has a trove of stories on topics ranging from horror, romance, drama and so on. Users can write stories and share it on various social media platforms if they wish.
Though it is available as a freemium on Google Play and iTunes, Tap is a revenue generator as well.
“While the app itself is free, as are a select number of stories, it also includes the option to upgrade to a premium service. Here, users will gain access to an unlimited number of stories, including exclusive ones available only to subscribers. The service costs $2.99 per week, $7.99 per month, or $39.99 per year,”writes Techcrunch.
Tap is not a loner in the scene. Counterparts like Hooked, the fiction app and Amazon Rapids employ the same chat-like story telling technique. Serial Box and Hardbound are also in the game with the ‘short’ story format.
