Homegrown social media optimization site chalks up 600 million hits

2017/05/03

Taipei City-headquartered PicSee, a startup offering online social media optimization services, has attracted a staggering 620 million-plus visits to its website worldwide since going live in December 2015.
 
 Popular with the public and celebrity users such as Taiwan pop singer Jay Chou and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, PicSee is also a hit with international music companies such as New York-based Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
 
 Available as a Google Chrome extension, PicSee enables users to edit internet addresses, or URLs; customize captions and thumbnails automatically produced by such video-sharing networks as YouTube; and generate reports of website visitor numbers, frequencies and locations. It is offered in 10 languages, including Chinese, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
 
 Founded by Fang Xuan and Wu Jhen-he, PicSee operates out of National Taiwan University Garage in Taipei—a startup incubator serving as a platform for young entrepreneurs to work with leading academics and industry experts in developing the products and services of tomorrow.
 
 According to Fang, the duo’s experience in managing a Facebook fan page for an experimental food app during their university days taught them the value of the golden rule of marketing and publishing: A picture is worth a thousand words. “We quickly learned that eye-catching thumbnails trump appealing captions when it comes to link clicks,” he said.
 
 Government support is playing a part in the success of PicSee. The duo received funding of US$20,000 from Taiwan Innovation Entrepreneurship Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology in support of their fact-finding trip earlier this year to Silicon Valley in the U.S.
 
“We visited startup accelerators and incubators, as well as carried out exchanges with other entrepreneurs, in the hope of developing a deeper understanding of the U.S. market,” Fang said.
 
 PicSee also sees Southeast Asia as glittering with potential. “As Taiwan further strengthens its connections with the region, the next step for us is to find the right partners and pursue exciting opportunities,” Fang said.
 
 Since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in May 2016, the government has worked to bolster Taiwan’s relations with Southeast Asia under the New Southbound Policy. This far-sighted initiative seeks to deepen the country’s agricultural, business, cultural, educational, tourism and trade ties with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, six South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=10&post=114711)