iWorld
Koo inks partnership with CleverTap to engage more users
KOLKATA: Homegrown micro-blogging platform Koo has announced its partnership with CleverTap, a SaaS-based mobile marketing company. The decision follows a steady success of Koo’s partnership with CleverTap for their first product, Vokal.
This partnership is aimed at engaging app users via push and in-app notifications using CleverTap’s real-time, data-driven insights promising high user engagement and retention.
According to the Contribution of Smartphones to Digital Governance in India report by The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) in partnership with KPMG India, India is expected to hit 829 million smartphone users by 2022. This increased mobile adoption presents marketers and brands with a massive opportunity to not only reach out to current and potential customers but also enhance their engagement and deepen loyalty by delivering a seamless brand experience.
Riding on this opportunity, CleverTap is aiming to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to personalise the customer experience using real-time behavioural data. CleverTap’s technology offers live user segmentation, sophisticated omni channel campaigns, and deliverability of 23 million push notifications a minute. Furthermore, the company offers 12 different channels for engagement, it said on Tuesday.
CleverTap co-founder and CEO Sunil Thomas says, “Koo’s understanding of user experience and expertise in promoting regional content is uniquely complementary to CleverTap’s omnichannel marketing platform. With our passion for enabling brands to deliver highly successful marketing campaigns and delightful end-user experiences, we are excited to help Koo gain a deeper understanding of user behaviour that will help them achieve their goal of connecting with 100 million users this year.”
As per the Google KPMG report, the Indian internet user base will increase to 735 million by the end of 2021. Indian language internet users are expected to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent to reach 536 million by the end of 2021, while English users are expected to grow at only three per cent reaching 199 million within the same period.
In a market dominated by global apps like Twitter and Facebook, Koo is trying to emerge as a differentiator by promoting vernacular content while reaching out to multilingual audiences across the country.
Commenting on the partnership, Koo’s co-founder, Mayank Bidawatka said, “Our partnership with CleverTap will be instrumental in creating actionable user segments and keeping users engaged on our platform. We believe that CleverTap’s real-time insights and omnichannel solutions will not only help us establish a stronger connection with our existing users, but also attract more customers. Through this partnership, we are confident in our ability to increase clickthrough rates and achieve a double digit increase in the overall app sessions”.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
