Nyoombl (pronounced ‘nimble’), a stealthy startup we wrote about earlier this year, is finally debuting its social broadcasting platform. While the site is still private, we have a number of details about how it works, and more. In fact, the first 100 readers that join the waiting list here will have their emails activated right away and can start using the service.
Founded by Oladayo Olagunju, Nyoombl aims to make conversations public. It’s a mix between Skype and YouTube and allows people to broadcast and then archive live conversations for the entire world to listen in on, watch, and learn.
Users simply log-on to the platform via their Facebook account, and they can then choose to converse with another specific user of their choice, or broadcast alone. All broadcasts are simultaneously live and archived. During debates or interviews, viewers can easily ask both broadcasters questions live and receive responses instantly via voice or IM. The archived version becomes ready and sharable 5 seconds after the conversation is over.
All broadcast conversations have a duration of no more than 7 minutes. And the conversations that are most “liked” or Tweeted and the conversations about recent or trending global events of significance are automatically featured prominently on the homepage. Currently, Nyoombl is Flash-based plans to move to HTML5 as the site scales.
And to prevent the Chatroulette problem, the site has implemented habit-premised algorithms to track and shut down inappropriate behavior. Olagunju says that most of the site’s early users and testers are from college campuses so universities are a focus initially, but eventually he has ambitions for the site to become a dedicated place to share and broadcast conversations.
Olagunju explains: “We are democratizing conversations by letting everyday people to do what Larry King did and empowering the unsung Oprah Winfrey’s in our midst…We allow any two people in different locations to take their conversations public. We’re doing to conversations what LinkedIn did to resumes, what Facebook did to pictures, and what Twitter did to thoughts.”
Nyoombl is seed-backed chiefly by Chris Kelly, former Chief Privacy of Facebook and counts entrepreneur Adam Rifkin, Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy, and venture capitalist Lara Druyan as advisors.
Of course, Nyoombl already has a few competitors. In terms of individual broadcasting, YouTube, Justin.TV, Ustream and others play in this space. And for sharing conversations, Google Hangouts, and recently launched Spreecast are also providing a social broadcasting platform for conversations. Sean Parker’s Airtime may also combine social with video broadcasting.