Wattpad

Wattpad

Wattpad
The World's Largest Online Storytelling Platform
Date Joined	2006
Followers	80+ Million

Known as the largest writing platform on the internet, Wattpad is an online e-book community where undiscovered and published writers can publish and share their works.

Wattpad is an online literature platform that can be accessed using a computer for the web version, mobile phone for the mobile application, or a tablet for either. Unlike dedicated e-book reading devices, Wattpad requires no special hardware or downloads of any sort and is fully accessible through web-pages or the mobile application. It can be run on most mobile or hand-held devices, such a modern cell phones or tablets.

Wattpad content is user-generated, allowing anyone to contribute to the vast and constantly expanding online library.

Wattpad HQ (the main headquarters for the company) is based in Toronto, Canada, but there are multiple offices across the globe. Wattpad has also introduced remote working in addition to in-person work at their offices.

Launch and Fame

Wattpad originated as an idea of e-book reading application in 2006 when Ivan Yuen, an early employee of Tira Wireless contacted Allen Lau, the co-founder of Tira Wireless to provide feedback for his new mobile e-reading project. Coincidentally, Allen was pursuing a similar idea and he flew to Vancouver to meet with Ivan. Wattpad was released in 2006 unofficially. During their first meeting in Vancouver, Ivan and Allen decided that:

• Wattpad should be 100% free to keep the “friction” low. It allowed them to quickly test and refine the idea.

• It would be too time consuming for them to create and maintain their own catalog. Better focus on building the platform and let the community to decide what they want to read.

• Supporting as many phone models as possible was crucial. This would ensure that lack of hardware support would not become a hurdle for people to try Wattpad out.

• They would create a website (which Ivan already did) for users to upload their content to the “cloud”. To make the website look more interesting, they would also display a list of new and popular content (which became “What’s Hot” and “What’s New” – a fixture in Wattpad now).

Since its launch in December 2006, the mobile application has been downloaded over 5 million times. In February 2007, Wattpad announced the addition of over 17,000 eBooks from Project Gutenberg, making them available to mobile users. In March 2009, an iPhone version was released, competing with ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle for iPhone. This was followed by the launch on BlackBerry App World in April 2009, Google Android in June 2009, and Apple iPad in April 2010, making Wattpad the only e-book reader to support all major mobile phone platforms.

As of April 30, 2023, the Wattpad mobile app from Google Playstore has had over 100 million downloads, and the website displays the history, evolution, and statistics across all platforms.

Criticism

Wattpad is criticized for hosting copyrighted material on their site, as the content uploaded is user generated and subject to safe harbor rules under the OCILLA It has since announced several initiatives to combat piracy, including the "Authors In Charge" program which allows writers to identify and directly remove infringing content from the site.

Celebrity Authors and the Positives of Wattpad

The most frequently voted stories appear on the "Hot List" (This is determined by a number of statistics and algorithms). The authors of those stories are unofficially referred to as "Wattpad Celebrities" because of their high status among the Wattpad users (which can come in the form of being a Star or a popular/famous figure). These stats change daily, due to reads and votes by other users. Many wattpad users and readers appreciate the site for inspiring children and teenagers to read and write more and uncover a hidden interest in literature. Unlike other websites where new authors can share their work, Wattpad users are more active to respond to such submissions. If one check the Most Popular pane of authors, it is easy to find in their profiles that most are teenagers.

Contests

Wattpad holds several smaller contests a year and one major one. The large annual contest is called "The Watty Awards". In 2010, The Watty Awards introduced several additional awards categories as well as the ability to pick celebrities to play the fictional characters of the stories. Contests are open to anyone who has a Wattpad account. They also give prizes to the contest winners. Sometimes contests are a simple question like "Where is your favorite place to read?"

In the present day, as of April 30, 2023, Wattpad's engagement with the community has and continues to increase exponentially, The Watty Awards, now being referred to as the "Largest Online Contest for Writers in the World" and "Wattpad's Largest Annual Writing Contest", now offer authors and their works the chance to compete for a multitude of grand prizes, including but not limited to: Cash prizes, opportunities to adapt a Wattpad work into a film, series, TV production, etc., official traditional publishing opportunities, and many more.

Both Wattpad officials and community members host dozens of contests every year, whether it be a sponsored contest to promote a new or existing partnership with a brand or company (ex. Wattpad works with Maybelline to host a contest where money goes to a mental health organization), or Wattpad Ambassadors host a contest for the community to engage and display their talents for a special shout-out or similar prize.

Evolution

2017 began the era of evolution for Wattpad, first starting with the launch of Wattpad Brand Partnerships, merging with the online comic platform WEBTOON, and launching the Wattpad Stars program.

In 2018, Wattpad undertook a re-design for the first time ever. From changing the logo to implementing tons of new features and re-models of pages, the company and platform have displayed that they have expanded upon their vision of being a reading and writing platform, and are now more than ever pushing for authors around the world to become something greater.

In 2019, Wattpad further strived towards their goal of empowering writers and launched the Paid Stories program, Wattpad Books, and working with WEBTOON under Wattpad WEBTOON Studios to co-produce its first feature-length film After, based on the viral Wattpad hit. The company also announced an expansion by opening another Headquarters in Nova Scotia.

Today, Wattpad is the world's most-loved social storytelling platform, and has satellite offices in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, India, and Philippines, as well as it's primary HQ in Toronto, Canada and its secondary HQ in Nova Scotia. Wattpad WEBTOON Studios also continues to partner with the entertainment industry to co-produce Wattpad stories for all types of adaptations, including, but not limited to, print, film, and digital platforms.

References

Wattpad Tieng Viet