Wattpad Private Library

[Carri Seargent]

Ilike many others, use Wattpad not just for its vast library of stories but also as a platform to connect with friends and fellow readers. The personal messaging feature is an integral part of this connection. It allows us to discuss our favorite books, share ideas, and even roleplay within the universes we love so much. For many of us who don't have access to other platforms or websites, this is our only means of staying connected.

Wattpad currently hosts over 90 million users worldwide (source: Wattpad Corp). If the personal messaging feature were removed, it would disrupt the communication channels for a significant number of these users - myself included. This would not only impact user experience but could potentially lead to a decrease in active users.

The removal of personal messaging on Wattpad isn't just about losing a feature; it's about losing connections that have been built over time through shared interests and discussions. We urge Wattpad to reconsider their decision and preserve the personal messaging feature for its dedicated user base.

Please sign this petition if you believe in preserving community connections on Wattpad.

Go to my account @Again_Its_Adler on wattpad if you want to know more about this petition. Including go check out the book made about this, there is much more about the topic there and you can ask questions.

Wattpad is a website for reading and publishing original written fiction[6] and connecting with fellow writers and readers.[7] Its most popular genres are romance, teen fiction, and fan fiction.[8] As of November 2021, Wattpad has more than 90 million monthly users[7] (the majority of whom are younger women)[9] and there are over 665 million story uploads in total.[10][failed verification]

Some of its stories have been transformed into mainstream novels and TV series and movies, such as the After and The Kissing Booth series. In January 2019, Wattpad launched its own publishing division named Wattpad Books to ease the effort for its authors.[11] In January 2021, Naver Corporation announced that it would be acquiring Wattpad and the deal was completed in May 2021.[12]

In February 2007, Wattpad had announced the addition of over 17,000 e-books from Project Gutenberg, making them available to mobile users.[10] According to a June 2009 Wattpad press release, the application had been downloaded over 5 million times.[10] In March 2009, an iPhone version was released. This was followed by the launch on BlackBerry App World in April 2009, Google Android in June 2009 and Apple iPad in April 2010. In December 2015, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile Version was released. Currently, Wattpad has more than 90 million users[15] who collectively spend 15 billion minutes each month using Wattpad.[15] As of 2018, there are more than 400 million fanfiction uploads on Wattpad.

As of January 2018, Wattpad had received almost USD $117.8M in funding from investors.[12] In 2011, Wattpad announced that it received $3.5M in total funding from its current investors, and from W Media Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, and Union Square Ventures.[16] Then in June 2012, Wattpad raised $17.3M from a group of venture funds led by Khosla Ventures.[17]

In April 2014, Wattpad announced $46M in a Series C of funding led by OMERS ventures.[18] In January 2018, Wattpad announced USD $51M in funding from Tencent Holdings Limited, BDC, Globe Telecom's Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, Canso, and existing investor Raine.[19]

In December 2011, Wattpad was selected as the hottest Digital Media company in the country at the Canadian Innovation Exchange.[20] In the same year, co-founder and CEO Ivan Yuen was also recognized as a top Canadian entrepreneur at the Impact Infused Awards, sponsored by Deloitte.[21]

In March 2014, Wattpad signed a contract with Pop Fiction, an imprint of Summit Media, to print Filipino Wattpad stories in the Philippines.[22] Other publishers from the Philippines also publish stories from Wattpad.

Since then, some Wattpad stories have also been adapted into teleseryes. Filipino television network TV5, in partnership with Wattpad and Life is Beautiful Publishing Company, launched Wattpad Presents, a series of Wattpad stories turned into TV dramas. Wattpad stories aired on the show are usually those that were published by LIB Publishing.

ABS-CBN also made several adaptations of Wattpad stories such as "My App Boyfie" by Noreen Capili (noringai), starring James Reid and Nadine Lustre, and the coming-of-age series Bagito starring Nash Aguas, Alexa Ilacad and Ella Cruz.[23][24][25] Pop Fiction's best-selling book, She's Dating the Gangster, written by Bianca Bernardino (SGWannaB) as a Wattpad original, became the first Wattpad story adapted into a full-length motion picture starring Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. The movie adaptation was produced by ABS-CBN's film production arm, Star Cinema.[26] Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil also starred on the film Just The Way You Are, based on the Wattpad story "The Bet" by Ilurvbooks. "Chasing Red" was published by isabelleronin, a Filipino-Canadian writer which got more than 200 million views.[27][28][29] In 2021, He's Into Her, a novel written by Maxinejiji (Maxine Lat Calibuso), will premiere on iWant TFC, starring Belle Mariano and Donny Pangilinan.[30][31]

On February 21, 2017, Wattpad launched a chat stories app called Tap,[33][34] which offers stories in the form of text messages as if reading a private conversation on someone else's phone. The app was an early success, with over 240 million taps in the first few weeks after the launch.[35] On July 28, 2017, Tap launched "Tap Originals", a series of original stories produced by writers every week, with some of these series working on an episode-by-episode basis.[36]

On November 13, 2018, WATTPAD introduced "Next Beta" to a few select countries for early testing.[37][38] The launch of the Next Beta featured over 50 stories that were to be paid for with Watt Coins, which could be earned by having readers spend coins to unlock participating Next Beta stories. This offered writers the chance to earn money through their work and to provide support for readers. Wattpad planned a fast-follow launch for Next in Spanish-speaking regions and to expand the program. The program was available in Latin America and Spain beginning May 27, 2019, before expanding worldwide on July 11 the same year.[39] On September 17, 2019, the Wattpad Team announced the ending of the Next Beta program after results from the program showed that "Wattpadders are ready for a program that funds writers".[40] The program was later rebranded to "Paid Stories".

In June 2020, Wattpad suffered a huge data breach that exposed almost 270 million records. The data was initially sold before being published on a public hacking forum where it was widely circulated. The incident exposed extensive personal information including names and usernames, email and IP addresses, genders, birth dates and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes.[41][42]

Later that same year on July 14, researchers at Risk Based Security discovered that a threat actor from an unknown source was responsible for the breach, along with the sourcing of over 278 million password credentials and email addresses, with breakdown analysis suggested that Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook accounts were mostly affected.[43] The Wattpad Corporation has since investigated and patched the issue.

Wattpad has stated that the feature has "only been relevant to a small percentage of our user base"[47] and removing it could foster "transparent dialogue."[48] However, proponents of retaining private messaging[49] have stated that private messaging allows for collaboration among other things.

Famous authors such as Margaret Atwood and R. L. Stine have also joined Wattpad. Atwood has posted poetry and judged a poetry contest on the platform.[54] Stine has used Wattpad to post chapters of his books and done interactive events with readers.[55]

Wattpad has increased in popularity among many fandoms, who take to the platform to craft their own fan fiction.[56] One of the most notable stories on the platform is the After series by Anna Todd, which was originally published as a Harry Styles fan fiction.[57] After its large popularity amongst the One Direction fandom and the app's readers, the story became the most read book on Wattpad,[58] having achieved just under 10 million unique readers on the platform and been read more than one billion times.[59] The series went on to be published by Gallery Books and became a New York Times Best Seller.[58]

Wattpad hosts a number of writing contests each year, including the annual Watty Awards, the largest writing competition in the world.[61] In 2011, The Watty Awards introduced three entry levels (Popular, On The Rise, and Undiscovered) to allow greater chances of winning for every type of writer. Contests are open to anyone who has a Wattpad account.

During the summer of 2012, Wattpad in collaboration with Margaret Atwood, Canadian poet/novelist/literary critic, held the "Wattys": the first major poetry contest offering a chance to poets on Wattpad to compete against each other in one of two categories, either as an "Enthusiast" or a "Competitor". It has been going ever since, and now the contest is open to books of all genres.

Wattpad has formed ties with publishing houses to try to help Wattpad authors to receive compensation for their works. A new branch, Wattpad Studios, was developed to connect popular writers to both the publishing and film industries.[62] Wattpad has, in the past, teamed up with publishing groups such as Sourcebooks to help Wattpad authors receive book deals, and get their work into hard copies.[63] More traditional publishing houses such as Random House and HarperCollins have approached popular Wattpad writers to negotiate publishing deals, allowing the website to serve as a springboard into the more traditional publishing industry.[64]

3a8082e126