CALIFORNIA: Viber is an application that has over 460 million unique users and over 608 million registered users, it was only a matter of time before Viber decided to go beyond instant messaging, voice and calls. So Viber has started rolling out what it calls Public Chat, which is essentially a social media platform for users to engage with celebrities, personalities and brands.
With Public Chats, Viber users can finally follow group conversations for specific topics that they’re into. Once you start following a group chat, you can then like any piece of content in the group chat, including messages, photos, videos, links and more.
Viber’s FAQ defines a Public Chat as a place where one or more people can send messages to each other that anyone can see. “Public Chats can be about anything – a local community group, a TV show, or even your favorite sports team,” reads the document.
Whereas a group chat is a private conversation between a group of participants that no one besides the participants can see, a Public Chat can be seen by anyone who chooses to follow it.
A Public Chat can have up to 99 participants. Anyone that follows a Public Chat can see its messages, but not contribute to the Chat. “To become a participant, you must be added by a participant of that Chat,” notes the FAQ.
As for privacy, only other participants in your Public Chat can see your information. Note that followers can’t see anyone’s personal information, including yours.
