When Twibbonize started small in 2019, it all began with one simple problem:
Editing twibbon was a hassle.
People would have to install editing apps, download the PNG file of the twibbon frame, and carefully place the twibbon on top of the chosen picture. Oh, and beware of the low-quality image due to the poorly shared twibbon frame, for god knows how many times it’s been forwarded.
Not to mention when you have to repeat it manually for hundreds of people during an event (yes, I’ve been there before when I haven’t discovered Twibbonize).
The same problem happened to the friends of our founder, Muhammad Mulqan, who struggled in the process of editing twibbon frames manually for their campus event. So, with a sheer intention to help his friends, Twibbonize was born and automated the whole process.
But unlike now, Twibbonize wasn’t Twibbonize; it all started with a bunch of “Twibbon Generator” websites. With only two buttons consisting of “Upload Picture” and “Download”, each website is dedicated to one particular twibbon. Though still rough around the edges, the websites were used by hundreds of Mulqan’s campus friends and colleagues, to the point that it was too much for Mulqan to create a new one each time.
Because the demand was high, Mulqan created a new website that everyone could use to upload their twibbon frame. This was the birth of Twibbonize–a matchmaker between campaign creator and campaign supporter. The main problem: funds.
“I was only a part-timer and didn’t have much to pay for a new domain. So, I used a domain I had bought for personal use, added a sub-domain (which is free), and voila!— twibbonize.mulqan.com was born before it went to twibbonize.com”, shared Mulqan of those early days.
The website used a shared-hosting service, which could only handle small traffic of 600 people in the last 30 mins. And unfortunately, it wasn’t ready for many kinds of twibbon frames either; since people can’t adjust their photos freely to the frame just yet.
To put it simply: Twibbonize was far from where it is now. But at last, Twibbonize was a step closer with its new website.
As it was new, there were only six campaigns on it. Soon, Mulqan did some personal selling by approaching and contacting many campus events.
“Well, I was pretending to be the event’s participant and asked them if they had a twibbon frame for the event. They always send me a Google Drive link for it, and I said, ‘why not put it on Twibbonize?’ and told them about the website.”
As a result, they eventually began to use Twibbonize as it would be more effective for them to automatize the whole twibbon editing process. But, Mulqan didn’t stop there.
“One of the memorable experiences is I used to kick-start the first ten supports of each campaign to motivate the campaign creators. Then, after the campaign gained a decent number of supports, I told them how useful Twibbonize could be and suggested putting their twibbon links in their Instagram bio and feeds.”
From there, Twibbonize grew and became more recognized as a twibbon campaign generator. But, the fund problem still existed. “At some point, I struggled to gain the needed fund to develop Twibbonize. I wasn’t even thinking about how I could milk money from Twibbonize for personal use. All I thought about was how I could gain funds for Twibbonize to develop on its own without using my own money since I was still in college.”
As time went by, Mulqan started to gain more funds through donations, and words quickly spread, thanks to Trakteer and Mulqan’s undying passion for developing Twibbonize. Soon, Twibbonize leveled up and started using VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, which is better than a shared-hosting service.
Thanks to Indonesia’s 75th Independence Day, Twibbonize reached its first milestone with its first-ever 1.000.000 active monthly users. Later on, many companies and businesses began using Twibbonize for their campaign needs, and Mulqan realized this could be more than just a Twibbon generator. So, in October 2020, our current CEO Mohamad Elang Fokkerizky approached Mulqan, and they decided to use the momentum and started building Twibbonize for the better with our current CTO, Bernino Falya.
Along with the growth, Twibbonize had some of its peak moments in 2021 when some movements and fun campaigns made their way and went viral on other platforms.
By August 2021, Twibbonize reached its highest number of users. With two campaign collaborations that occurred this month, we managed to achieve 8 million users.
That month, we collaborated with the Presidential Special Staff – Communication Division in driving and encouraging the Double Mask movement to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following that, we collaborated with the Ministry of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia to release the official Twibbonize campaign for Indonesia’s 76th Independence Day. By this time, Twibbonize had gained more than 60 million users in less than a year. Woohoo! 🎉
In the middle of 2022, Twibbonize launched a version of the app to make it easier for users to explore campaigns. Along the journey, Twibbonize added new modules and features. Text, Media, Instagram to TikTok Embed Modules, and Twibbonize Marketplace went live. Users would create an account, choose the modules based on their campaign needs, and voila! The campaigns are good to go.
Well, at first, there was no Twibbonize. There was only one simple problem. But as it turned out, millions of people around the world are also facing the same problem.
From 1 to 3 people, Twibbonize has grown consequently to 30+ people in 2022. Although our team is small, we’ve never stopped growing since day one, as we always aim for more to give.
“One lesson I’ve learned and value the most is to always be open to any opportunity. If I said no to the idea of developing Twibbonize along with Fokker and Nino, maybe there would’ve been no Twibbonize as we know it now.” – Mulqan
The Essence of Twibbonize
As Twibbonize is a free-for-all where everyone can shine a light on their campaigns, users and campaign creators range widely from individuals, small businesses, and big companies to communities. Indeed, our forward momentum also relies on their contributions.
The strength of communities is closely linked to Twibbonize. From webinars to charity events, the releases of these events are often carried out in Twibbonize to raise awareness and invite volunteers and participants to join the campaign. In addition, as our mission is to spread even broader awareness of good causes, we’ve also taken on a more hands-on approach by partnering up with various communities to support movements with different purposes and goals.
Communities are more than just a bunch of users for the platform—we constantly learn from them. After all, one of our driving spirits is to do everything we can to give back to our users by building a better Twibbonize.
Backed by a team of thoughtful and visionary young adults, Twibbonize has hosted over 3 million campaigns in over 193 countries up to August 2022. We are thrilled to be the platform to support your movement! No matter how simple.
Our Ways to Give Back
Currently, our 30+ contributing members are divided into three teams: marketing, product, and development.
While we’re still new, we’re proud of our team’s ideas and technology to improve the Twibbonize experience for everyone, as we believe that mutual exchange is vital.
FYI–as we’re always aiming to deliver more, we’re currently working on new ideas up in our sleeves, waiting to be launched. So, you can expect to see us with exciting features in the future. Stay tuned!
