Remember when we first found out about Babblr, that lovely little browser extension that allowed Tumblrers to realize their dreams of chatting within their favorite blogging platform? Remember when the company had to shut down the day they first launched due to overwhelming demand from new subscribers? Well, now the outlook is decidedly brighter, because Babblr is back online, thanks in part to a brand-new partnership with Realtime.co.
Having an awesome product and not being able to handle the server load is truly terrible and is every start-up’s worst nightmare, and in an effort to keep the interest in the Tumblr chat function alive and well, the Babblr founders asked the Tumblr community to help raise funds so they could continue to develop a service they believed was highly sought after. “It was an unfortunate thing to happen, but that experience enabled us to gauge just how much people wanted Babblr Chat and what we needed to do to get to the next step,” says Brandon Sowers, one of Babblr’s co-founders and the team’s relations coordinator. “We were adamant about bringing the service to all Tumblr members and we were confident that people wouldn’t hesitate to get involved in our development process.” Babblr is currently comprised of only three people, including Trevor Clarke, the team’s principal creator, and Brett Williams, Babblr’s platforms engineer.
Turns out Babblr didn’t need to worry – they found a believer in Andre Parreira, CEO of Realtime.co, the world’s fastest real-time messaging system. “The Babblr team made a great product. They just needed support to spread it to the masses,” says Parreira. “We are honored to back such a great group of guys.”
The reason Babblr is working better than ever before is the new Realtime.co Cloud Storage solution, a fast NoSQL database cloud service able to serve any level of request traffic. Its powerful real-time data synchronization features, along with a simple-to-use API, allowed Babblr to quickly replace its initial storage solution and be ready to handle the huge success it had among thousands of Tumblr users.
The silent re-launch last night went well and without a hitch. From garnering 208,000 subscribers three days prior to first launch, Babblr is now aiming to hit the 450,000 mark within the next few days and is positive they can reach it.
“Seeing people excited about Babblr like we are is encouraging,” says Clarke, who coded the entire app by himself. “We are so inspired that we will go ahead and start building new features we hope will get even more people to enjoy the service.”
What are these planned features? The Tumblr chat function is currently only available as a browser extension on Google Chrome, but part of Babblr’s initiative is to widen its reach and create add-ons for other Web browsers. Another intended upgrade is the transition from Web-to-mobile through a Babblr app that will allow users to chat on-the-go through their smartphones or tablets while also browsing through their Tumblr feeds. Other additional capabilities include video chat conferencing and social media cross-platform integration. “Our best case scenario is to have Babblr be the chat app of choice, on various social media sites, not just Tumblr,” adds Sowers.
You can get Babblr for free, but patrons are encouraged to contribute whatever amount to help sustain development.
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