A smartphone app that aims to crowdsource audio books for the blind is making waves in Thailand.
The Read for the Blind app – developed jointly by Samsung, AIS, Google and SCB Bank – was introduced on Oct. 1 and already has over 52,000 likes on its Facebook page.
Its mission is simple: To provide blind people with a collection of audio books recorded with the help of public participation.
A teacher in her 30s can start recording her voice half way through and have a policeman in his 50s finish the other half. Once the record is completed, it’ll be uploaded to a server and blind people can call 1414 to listen to any content that’s been shared.
Read for the Blind hopes to strengthen bonds between Thai people and hopefully inspire more generous acts. The app’s slogan loosely translates to “one voice of yours is one more light to guide the blind”.
Now why did it go viral? I’ll take an optimistic leap here, but it seems as if people have been drawn to the idea of helping others. A well-planned marketing campaign didn’t hurt either. The app’s launch took place at Siam Paragon and on October 15, they created the “Blind Happening” campaign in which they asked the public to share a picture with a black solid background on their social channels and put #ReadfortheBlind hashtag to develop awareness.
Some of the supporters include internet icons like Jakrapong Kongmalai, Kafaak, and Khajochi which resulted in more than 10,000 re-tweets in just a day.
And as we all know, as soon as a celeb gets involved with a product in Thailand, it’s almost inevitable that it will go viral.
