Yubo, Social Platform For Teens Triples Its Daily New Users Amid The Coronavirus Crisis

It is a truth universally acknowledged that members of Generation Z (born loosely between the late 90s to 2010) spend a lot of time on their phones, mostly on social media. Since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments to close down schools, concerts, sport events, malls, and restaurants, teenagers found themselves with even more time on their hands, and even less (or none) outdoor activities available. So, in order to socialize, entertain themselves, or even plainly put, kill time, many have turned to their good old friend: their smartphone. 

One company that has seen a remarkable rise in use due to quarantined teenagers relying almost entirely on social media to keep in touch with old friends (or make new ones), is French social media platform Yubo, whose cofounders made the Forbes Under 30 list this year.

“Prior to COVID-19 we used to have the most engagement on our platform during the weekends or on holidays,” Sacha Lazimi, the company’s CEO, says. “Judging by the metrics of use, now it’s like every day is a holiday, and everyone’s on holiday at the same time.”

On Yubo, users can create video discussion spaces where streamers and viewers interact through a live chat. They can start or join a so-called room which can hold up to 10 streamers (users who are on video), and an unlimited number of participants (viewers), who can interact with the streamers through a chat. The streamers and the viewers may add each other as friends, which would allow them to start an individual chat. 

In early February, Yubo had 10 to 15 thousand new daily signups (people who download the app and create a profile), and in mid April the number had more than doubled, to 30 thousand per day. Since the same time in February, the company has seen a 50% increase in daily active users, to well above one million today.

Most of Yubo’s daily active users are native English speakers. U.S. and Canada make up roughly 60% of Yubo’s clientele, followed by the U.K., Australia, the Scandinavian countries, and a smaller portion comes from the company’s native France.

“As the platform is all about socializing, you really need to be able to speak the language,” Lazimi says.

Downloading the app is free of charge, but Yubo makes money by offering paid features to users, such as boosting the group one is in so that more people can see it when they open the app. 

“It’s about visibility, like having a good spot at a bar or at a coffee shop,” Lazimi says. 

One of the criticisms that Yubo has faced is that its socialization element is a veil for dating, and the platform is, in a way, a Tinder for teens. 

Lazimi disagrees with this statement, stating that Yubo’s core use are group chats and the intention is for users to socialize in a group setting. He says that these rooms offer various activities, like cooking, singing battles, playing games — activities that these teenagers would have been doing outside anyway, except Yubo offers it online.  

The Paris-based company was started in 2015 by Lazimi and his college friends Arthur Patora (CTO) and Jérémie Aouate (CPO). After a few failed business ideas, they realized many people were sharing their Snapchat name in order to make friends. The three cofounders initially advertised Yubo on Snapchat, spending hours of their time using their personal profiles to pitch it to potential users. Today, Yubo has almost 30 million users, has raised $20 million, and it generated nearly 10 million euros in revenue in 2019.

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