India-based messaging platform Hike has witnessed a surge in usage in terms of daily time spent on the app as well as in user engagement owing to a nationwide lockdown in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hike has witnessed a 33 per cent increase in daily time spent leading to users spending an average of over 44 minutes a day on the app on an average.

The app also noted a spike in user interaction with its AI chatbot Natasha. Users are having more conversations with the bot, most questions framed around the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to that, Hike is providing real-time messages on Government advisories such as social distancing, Janta curfew, etc.

As users spend more time hanging out on Hike, the company has shared another sneak peek into its upcoming offering HikeLand. It has launched a dedicated URL where users registered on Hike can “reserve their spot” on HikeLand to get early access.

The platform has not revealed any details about the feature which is slated to launch in the next few weeks. HikeLand will potentially be a sort of online community for users to “hangout” as the company has hinted.

Other platforms seeing rise

Online messaging platforms and video-conferencing platforms have seen a massive surge in usage owing to shutdowns across the globe to curb the spread of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Video-conferencing Zoom, for instance, garnered 200 million users in March as compared to its 10 million users on the app in December 2019.

Social media giant Facebook has also witnessed a major increase in usage and time spent across its social media platforms it had said last month.

Usage has especially surged in areas most impacted by the pandemic. Total messaging in these regions had increased by more than 50 per cent over the last month. Voice and video calls on Messenger and WhatsApp had more than doubled.

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