We’ve recently been receiving notifications to our Viber app telling us that we’ll soon be able to see celebrities’ conversations. So what do we think of this new feature, and will it benefit Viber in anyway?

The new feature, Public Chats, will allow celebrities and brands alike to share group discussions with fans. At the moment, this is simply a way for fans to see what their favourite public figures and companies are talking about, as for now, we won’t be able to participate. However, users will be able to comment in a Chat if the account-holder is an existing contact. The most popular of these chats will we featured in a new section on the home screen, with users able to search and discover who is chatting and what topics are being covered. There will be around 300 public chats ready to explore, and if the user knows a specific chat he or she wishes to access, they can do so through a customized URL. Interestingly, Public Chats will also be open to non-celebrities too, with those wishing to launch a Chat able to apply by email. At the moment, the app’s CEO Talmon Marco, has dubbed the launch, “A social experiment”, although it has received big name partnerships from the likes of Perez Hilton, Pixie Lott, and Next Model Management.

So will this benefit Viber? With 460 million users, of which 210 million are active, the market is wide open for growth. It might seem inevitable that Chats will lead the way for advertisers to step in, although at the moment, Marco states that the feature is simply a way to add additional content to the app, rather than advertising services. However, having a host of celebrities on board might mean that brands will want to reach out to them for product promotion through the app. If this becomes a widely used brand tactic in future, it will also mean that the number of celebrities using the app will increase, in turn drawing more fans. For the moment though, we’re still undecided how the feature might fully help Viber, aside from potentially drawing more users who wish to follow celebrity conversations.

So does Public Chats give Viber the edge over other messaging apps?  We think it does, because it seems as though the app wants to become a greater social platform, in the same way that perhaps WeChat has done. For now, this new feature ensures that Viber stands out from the crowd, as other messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Line have no social networking features. Public Chats is also unique in the fact it doesn’t resemble something you would see on Twitter. If you scroll through some of the featured public chats, it’s like reading a conversation between a small group of friends, with a series of frequent messages being sent back and forth, rather than just a stream of intermittent updates. There’s a much more personal feel than on Twitter, making it something that’s likely to really appeal to fans, and also gives Viber a unique place in the current world of social networking.

Do you use Viber as a Skype or FaceTime alternative to communicate with friends and family? Do you think Public Chats is a great selling point for the app? We’d love to hear your thoughts as always, so please leave your comments below, tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your views on our Facebook page.