Youtoo, which bills itself as the world’s first Social TV Network, has just released a new Facebook app that allows users to be on TV.
Youtoo launched in 2011 and is a cable network with a social twist. Users can record their own video responses to on-air cues and see themselves on TV. Users can also post their text comments about a show for on-air inclusion.
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To date, the network has broadcast over 90,000 viewer videos. Realty TV God Mark Burnett is an investor in Youtoo and sees huge potential in bridging the gap between TV viewers and on-air content.
Youtoo already has mobile apps for iOS and Android that allow users to record 15-seconds of video and share them with the network. Now, the company is adding the ability for users to upload video directly from Facebook.
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Users can respond to a question posed by the television program and Youtoo app and then record their response directly from Facebook. That response then shows up on the user’s Timeline.
If approved and scheduled to air, Youtoo will send the user a message with the date and time of their TV appearance. For users who might miss their moment in the spotlight — or want to share it with others — Youtoo also creates, air checks and recorded video of the live showing, which is shareable via Facebook.
In essence, Youtoo is kind of like Viddy or SocialCam, but with the ability to share those clips on TV.
Youtoo Technology is Coming to More Shows and Networks
Although Youtoo is available in more than 15 million cable households, CEO Chris Wyatt really sees the network and the website as a way to test new products and technologies. Youtoo then works with television producers and networks to integrate those technologies into the shows themselves.
“Youtoo is a software company that just happens to have a TV network as its testbed,” Wyatt says. The goal is to develop technology that others can then whitelabel and customize for their own uses.
This is important — because while Youtoo’s current programming structure includes shows that can benefit from direct fan interaction, the real power is with shows that can integrate the functionality at a more granular level.
Youtoo’s style of social interaction — especially with video prompts, could be a great fit for talk shows and courtroom shows. That way instead of asking users to sound off on Facebook at the end of a Judge Joe Brown segment, the announcer could also show text from viewers or video reactions.
Wyatt tells us that Youtoo’s technology — including the new Facebook app — will be powering dozens of shows this fall.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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