Hooks, the app that enables you to get a push notification for things that are important to you — such as news, new film releases or just about anything — has updated its iOS app to make it social by adding live chat to each notification.
“Now anyone who gets the same notification can talk inside Hooks app,” Hooks co-founder and COO Oleg Kozynenko tells me. “We’ve been testing this for the last month and we are getting very good participation numbers.”
So far, so nifty. But why add chat to an app that is otherwise all about private custom notifications? Kozynenko says that with 3 million-plus subscriptions to Hooks topics, the startup is already seeing users clustering around the same interests.
“What’s more important [is] we have their attention at the exact same moment something happens… when they receive a push notification about something they love,” he adds.
This, of course, presents some obvious social moments, such as when your football team scores or a new episode of your favorite TV show airs. Or when I publish my latest article on TechCrunch (I wish!).
It’s also a feature made ever more enticing by not only its immediacy but the way the Hooks UI surfaces how many other people have just received the same notification and are therefore also candidates to join the conversation.
Meanwhile, I’m told that Hooks has raised further funding: a $750,000 round backed by Techstars, KFund, Lanzame, Bankinter and various unnamed angels.