If you love jumping on the social media app bandwagon and keeping up with the latest and greatest available then I’m sure you aren’t oblivious to the most recent craze to hit Facebook Newsfeeds around the world called Bitstrips. Unless you lived underneath a rock for the last few weeks you will have surely seen these cartoon parodies of your friends popping up.
For those rock dwellers among us, let me explain what exactly Bitstrips is. This app allows users to log on and create a cartoon character of themselves, everything from the shape of your nose and distance between your eyes to the pout of your lips. Bitstrips characters end up looking somewhat like their real counterparts. Maybe slightly more tanned and toned but very close. You can then connect via Facebook with your friends who are also using the app and pick one to star in a ‘strip’ with you. These are nothing more than a single amusing comic strip, but boy are they popular. Then post them to your Facebook Newsfeed and voilà.
So why is Bitstrips so immensely popular? My guess is that it gives people the chance to design themselves as a character and interact with friends. With millions having already downloaded the app there have been some ‘teething’ issues. The developer obviously surprised by its overwhelming popularity struggled with some crashes due to overworked servers. Hopefully the latest update has rectified the issue as well as some other bugs. The app has also just received an undisclosed financial investment from Asia’s richest man, Mr Li, proving that this Facebook app won’t be disappearing from our news feeds anytime soon.
The app is completely free of charge and is available for download from both the App Store and Google Play.