Bitstrips Makes You the Star of Your Own Comic Strips

Text status updates on Facebook are so yesterday. Why not snazz them up with some comic strips? Don't worry if you're not artistically inclined, you don't even have to know how to draw – Bitstrips has already done most of the work for you.

Based in Toronto, Canada, Bitstrips lets you create comics and e-cards starring yourself and your friends. You may have already seen these custom cartoons on Facebook. If you haven't, you probably will soon. Since launching its Facebook app about seven months ago, Bitstrips has seen its user base grow from zilch to 10 million strong.

“We've done zero advertising, and our acquisition cost so far has been nothing. We attribute it to striking a chord with people, and providing a visual element to online communication that has been missing,” vice president of marketing Shahan Panth told VentureBeat.

Bitstrips believes that online communication is “frustratingly flat” and is therefore here to shake things up. Through the Bitstrips website and Facebook app, you can create cartoon versions of yourself and your friends and put them in hilarious comic situations that illustrate your feelings, day, misadventures, and whatnot.

According to CEO Jacob Blackstock, Bitstrips isn't inventing a new way to communicate. Rather, the company is helping users communicate online as they would offline. Emotions and facial expressions, which are critical to communication, are what Bitstrips bring to the table. You can choose from over 1,000 customizable templates, with more being added daily by the company's professional cartoonists. Once you've created your Bitstrip, you can share it via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and email.

So far, 10 million users have made unique Bitstrips and over 50 million unique cartoons have been shared. “We see it as the next step in the evolution of social media,” said Panth. “Making it more like real life.”