Slap your hands! ‘Thappad’, is a mobile app that lets you vent your frustration in a non-violent way
Slap your hands! ‘Thappad’, is a mobile app that lets you vent your frustration in a non-violent way
How many times have you read news that was so frustrating and nonsensical, that you wished you could slap someone, if only to vent your anger at the idiocy of it all Headlines that talk about relief trucks being attacked, or female volunteers being harrassed during the recent floods, riled up a lot of people. Protests filled social media and other news channels, but there was no way to cure that itchy palm. Well, that’s where ‘Thappad’ comes in. With this opinion-based app that works for iOS and Android, you can ‘slap’ or ‘clap’ for current news and trends that enrage you or cheer you up, using #clap or #slap!
“Everyday, we come across news items that enrage us so much that the urge to slap someone arises. This app fulfils that wish without disclosing your personal identity to morons, so also to safeguard your personal life,” says Sandesh B Suvarna, co-founder of the app. He adds, “In the same manner, you come across certain news items that make you want to clap. From both options, what we get is a valuable opinion. It gives you an opportunity to vent your feelings about a certain situation or news and is pretty much like Facebook’s dislike button.”
While the content part of the startup is based out of Chennai, the team of seven are based out of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Indore as well! What they discovered through their app, which was launched three months ago, astonished them. “The app gave us insights into the people’s opinion on news. Over 90 per cent of our users slapped the news about the Chennai floods. But, interestingly, when we shared the news of Paris attacks, 82 per cent slapped or gave it a thappad, but 18 per cent of the users gave it a clap. We were stumped to see this response!” Sandesh exclaims.
Is their role as opinion-generators on the mobile platform their main focus “Thappad is a neutral app and we have used it to spread awareness about many social evils and injustices. But we live in a society and honestly cannot escape the social angle,” he says. It has certainly become quite popular, and not just in Chennai. Following a soft launch, with no advertising or publicity, they have already garnered over 13,000 downloads and recorded three lakh opinions till date. And this being India, some of the opinions are hilarious and satirical beyond relief, making them an entertaining read.
