Rounds just retired its “Meet New People”
feature, with the aim to focus on longer, more meaningful video
conversations between real friends and family. Half
of all video conversations on Rounds are four minutes and longer, viewed
as ‘meaningful’ by the company. The average length of these meaningful
video hangouts is eleven minutes for mobile conversations and over
twenty-one minutes from Rounds’ Facebook app – with over 10% of Facebook
conversations lasting more than thirty minutes.
Rounds Video Chat Hangout,
the company’s mobile offering launched last December, has always
required Facebook friendship between users for its unique combination of
video communication and online entertainment. Now Rounds’ 7
million-user strong Facebook app, which formerly employed a social
matching algorithm allowing users to meet like-minded new people, will
also require pre-existing Facebook friendship for users to interact.
“Rounds
helps friends and family members feel closer when distance separates
them – by sharing activities, games and experiences in longer and more
meaningful conversations,” said Rounds CEO and co-founder Dany Fishel.
“Our users’ privacy and safety is our first and foremost priority; it’s a
subject on which we will not compromise. Although random chatting with
a different stranger every five seconds may still appeal to certain
crowds, we decided to retire this feature and leave our competitors to
cater to them.”
70%
of Rounds users are under 25-years-old, another important reason behind
the company’s emphasis on significant conversations between people with
real-world ties. “With so many teens and tweens making Rounds their
hangout network of choice” added Fishel “we decided to focus on what our
users really want: memorable experiences with the people they care
about most.”
Rounds is available as a free download for iPhone, Android, Facebook, Mac/PC and the web via www.rounds.com.
An optimized iPad version and all-new Rounds destination site
connecting users between mobile, desktop and Facebook, with new features
and shared games, activities and experiences are expected in mid 2013.
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About Rounds
As
the web’s first social “hangout network,” Rounds combines online
entertainment with video communication to bring friends closer together
for a fun, live experience across social networks, operating systems and
devices. Bridging the offline and online worlds, Rounds uses shared
activities, games and video to give friends the feeling of hanging out
in real life. Rounds has raised a total of $5 million in funding from
industry leading investors, including Verizon Ventures, Rhodium, DFJ's
Tim Draper, and other private investors. Download the Rounds application
and get more information at www.rounds.com.
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