In college, lives are go-go-go with little to no time to breathe in between sorority events, Her Campus meetings, class and philanthropy work let alone catch up with best friends or ask mom a quick question. What if there was an app that would allow you to hop on and hang out for a few minutes with your friends before diving into your next to-do list? Almost, like a party where you chat with a conglomerate of people and meet new ones! Well, collegiettes, your wish is Houseparty’s demand.
Meet Kimberly Kalb, who leads the marketing efforts for all things Houseparty! She’s the Director of Growth and works towards expanding the user-base of the new social media app!
Her Campus Utah: Walk us through the app! Give us the ins and the outs!
Houseparty: Right now, Houseparty is one of the hottest apps on campuses! We have over a million people partying with us on Houseparty. It’s a social network that connects to live video, meaning it is super simple, it’s social and it happens in real-time. You open the app and you’re instantly with your friends, which is an experience you don’t have with video. It’s notification based so you open it and your friends get the notification that you open and it’s such a surprise and a delight to open and see which friends have opened and joined you.
Her Campus Utah: What are some of the ways women on campuses can use the app?
Houseparty: What we’re seeing everywhere as far as how people are using it and how it’s useful is that college women are using it to plan. Instead of using GroupMe or a group text, it’s an easier and quicker way to get everyone together when trying to coordinate a plan. Figuring out what to wear to formal has been our favorite story we’ve heard! You’re in the dressing room and a friend can open the app and even if they’re in class, they can nod their heads yes or no! We hear a lot of people go to this college and are friend a totally different state and their friends go to a totally different school and it’s a way to keep in touch. We’ve heard so many different uses; religious groups use it for meetings since people are on different parts of campus at different times.
Her Campus Utah: What are some of the advantages of using this app over a quick Facetime?
Houseparty: Well, we’re available on Android—and you can have up to 8 people in one chat and have multiple chats happening at once!
Her Campus Utah: That’s amazing! I really love that!
Houseparty: In a normal, any other video call environment, you pick whom you’re going to call. So for example, I choose to call Person A and even if I have multiple people in a different hangout, I can’t see what other friends are currently on the app, there is no spontaneity. There’s no quick catch-up. It’s more socially acceptable for a quick conversation.
Her Campus Utah: So the app was designed to be exactly like a normal houseparty that you would find happening on college campuses.
Houseparty: Right. It’s a digital version of your houseparty! It’s helped me immensely keep in touch so much better with friends because of those 5 minute catch-ups. My friend will open it on her walk to work and we’ll spend 5 minutes talking and it’s time we never would have had. But because she has 5 free minutes, she doesn’t feel like calling—calling is a challenge now a days—and calling is a commitment and she can hop into the app and talk for 5 minutes and then hang-up.
Her Campus Utah: What do you think the primary goal of the app is?
Houseparty: We’re looking for users to find new ways to connect with their friends using video. We saw a hole in social media space for any form of live-video communication. You can Snapchat a video, but it’s not a live conversation. You can Facetime a person but again, there is no spontaneity. Everything available didn’t include an easy way to connect over video while you’re being your real self. We really focused on the idea of your authentic self and who you actually are. That didn’t seem to exist to us and so we’re hoping to provide you a place to be you with the people you want to be you with.
Her Campus Utah: Honing on the idea of being your authentic self, why do you think it’s so crucial to be comfortable presenting your authentic self on social media?
Houseparty: We talk a lot internally about how social media exists today and all of the different ways you can curate your image to the world; there are endless possibilities. There is such a strong desire to be you, to capture otherwise mundane moments and share that and share your true selves. There is a desire to share who they are, unfiltered. We truly believe your authentic self is whom you should be connecting with via social networks.
Her Campus Utah: Our favorite part, especially working for a magazine directed towards women, is the collaborative efforts of so many different women! Could you tell us about the powerful female influence in this app?
Houseparty: Our co-founder, she is amazing! She came into this company as one of two women and built up an almost entirely female development and growth team. It’s been really inspirational to build up such a strong female team. We have males on our team as well, our other co-founder is a man but it’s been so great for the culture of the company to have such a diverse group of people.
Her Campus Utah: Anything you’d like to add?
Houseparty: We’re so excited about the growth, organically! We think we’ve tapped into something that you need in your life and make the app even better for you!
To download the hottest new app, click the links below and start partying!
Apple Download: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/houseparty-group-video-chat/id1065781769…
Android Download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herzick.houseparty&hl=en