The number of Signal followers on the microblogging platform rose to more than 465,000 as of Jan. 24 from over 240,000 as of Jan. 10, according to estimates released by data analytics firm Qoruz, as privacy has made confidentiality the heart of its communication strategy.
In an email response, Jun Harada, Head of Growth and Communications at Signal, attributed the increase to an increase in advocacy for online privacy and the collective global perception that “Facebook is truly a application for your data ”.Being the # 1 Downloaded App on the App Store in India means to me that the country has chosen the importance of privacy, Signal Foundation CEO Brian Acton told ET last week.
The messaging app’s approach of taking ownership of an outage and making the topic of privacy relevant in its tweets struck a chord with users, especially Gen Z and Gen Y, according to heads of marketing and heads of advertising agencies.
Senior digital marketing executives have said the trend for companies to practice privacy in their communications is also here to stay.
Isharth Dalmia, associate vice president – strategy at digital agency Dentsu Webchutney, said large tech companies and payment startups in India would use privacy practices as a competitive advantage and a key differentiator as the debate rages on and awareness of the subject rages on.
For Signal, multiplying on-going trends – which experts call “instant marketing” – is critical because it may not have a crowd-sourcing budget like Facebook-owned WhatsApp.“You are riding a wave that turns naturally,” said Sai Ganesh, marketing manager for delivery services platform Donzo, widely known for its packaged expressions, including recently when a delivery in Bengaluru got a start. -up a day on the ground when the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rubani, proposed a change The name of the dragon fruit is Kamalam.
Ganesh added that Signal’s approach to taking a stand resonates with Gen Z and Gen Y.
His tweets were the most liked and shared in response to Facebook appearing as the top hit when people search for Signal in the App Store, according to the company.
The tweet, part of which reads – “Facebook may be more comfortable selling ads than buying them, but they will do what they need to do to get the best result when some people search for ‘Signal’ in the App Store ”- got almost 70,000 likes and retweeted about 13,000 times.
Ramkumar G, 27, a Puducherry Pro-Signal and MBA student, created a ‘David vs. Goliath’ ad promoting Signal’s privacy to counter WhatsApp print ads that he said looked like a business brochure .
“I wanted to write something clear and simple like talking to someone,” Ramkumar said. “People want natural things, and especially today we want to feel connected to each other.”
However, Signal faces its share of skepticism from privacy advocates about its ability to deal with the proliferation of misinformation that could be compared to its competitors.
On the call, Signal declined to comment on this.
Pooja Gohari, CEO of full-service agency The Glitch, said the following set of privacy policy campaigns could go one step further by highlighting where the data is located and with whom it is shared.
“These policy documents, which are 5,000 pages long, that we say ‘yes’ to him and move forward, if it’s part of a campaign and is easy for the consumer, I think it would be interesting to see them, ”she said.
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