Wattpad Pivots to a Digital Dating App
Wattpad has decided that it’s time to move away from social reading and writing, into the world of digital dating. If you’d rather hook up with a book than a boy on Friday night, Wattpad is now ‘shipping its library of over 40 million stories with the Story Hookup App.
“It’s a no-brainer transition for Wattpad. People already judge a book by its cover, so we’re really just optimizing for that experience,” says Tarun Sachdeva, Head of Product at Wattpad.
The Story Hookup App works like popular dating apps. It shows you a randomly selected story cover. You rate each cover as “Hot” or “Not” and influence which story covers make it into the top 10 Hot List. If you find a cover that you really love, click on the cover and take the story on a reading date.
“We think that there is a big opportunity here to compete with other dating apps,” says Allen Lau Co-Founder of Wattpad “A Story Hookup provides a Friday night date that won’t arrive late, won’t forget to call, and, best of all, it’s free so no one has to foot the bill for dinner!”
- April 1, 2014