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Due to common problems users face with online forums (like their declining interests in them), the platforms sometimes are viewed as retired teenage fads. But Tapatalk is changing this. With over 10 years of experience in computer software engineering, co-founder and CEO Winter Wong created Tapatalk with a vision of transforming online community experience on mobile devices. Tapatalk has now raised $5.8 million from Floodgate and IDG-Accel.
Five-year-old Tapatalk originated in Shanghai and then moved to Santa Monica recently as part of MuckerLab. Its free social app offers access to multiple online forums sharing interests such as readings, postings and pictures on a streamlined mobile interface; over 2.5 million use Tapatalk every month and over 70,000 sites have added its plugin. Because of Tapatalk's streamlined features, millions downloaded the app when it cost $4 - and since it became free, millions more users have jumped on board.
There hasn’t been much consistency with social forum interfaces in the past - just think of the off-topic replies all over.Reddit. With this in mind, Wong envisioned a succinct platform. Tapatalk users can discover, organize and monitor forums based on specific interests while following preferred online communities. Users can also share, explore friends’ interests and interact in their forums.
“Our approach is always to respect existing content that has been around since the beginning of the Internet,” Wong told Recode.
