“ seems to have followed coronavirus around the globe,” said 26-year-old copywriter Miranda di Carcaci, who noticed a couple of weeks ago that many of her friends in Italy were sharing screenshots on social media of themselves socialising via a video chat app, with groups laughing and sipping glasses of wine from behind their phones. It currently ranks at number one in the Apple app store in 17 countries including the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. Last week alone, the San Francisco-based app, which is owned by Fortnite developer Epic Games, raked in 2m downloads worldwide, compared with around 130,000 the same week a month ago, according to data from App Annie. “I’ve been to three or four different parties in one night,” said Andrew, a 30-year-old advertising executive, of the app, which allows users to congregate spontaneously with their friends via video hangout to carry out their usual social activities - just virtually.Īs millions of people have been told to stay at home in an unprecedented bid to curb the spread of the virus, Houseparty has become an overnight sensation - not only among company-starved millennials and Generation Z teenagers - but also their parents. This weekend, as much of the world retreated into coronavirus lockdown, it looked as though many people’s favourite activities were going to disappear with them: evening drinks, birthday parties, casual dinners with friends.īut then came the viral video chat app Houseparty. Simply sign up to the Technology sector myFT Digest - delivered directly to your inbox.
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