How One Start-Up Is Taking on Google
Spreecast is the early-stage social video platform looking to take on Google.
On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” founder and CEO Jeff Fluhr said “Spreecast is the social video platform that brings people together for face-to-face conversation.”
But where Google’s Google+ Hangouts, where up to nine people can video chat at a time, are only for use within the Google social media platform, Spreecast is cross-platform.
“We integrate with Facebook , we integrate with Twitter, we integrate with Google+, with Linkedin ,” Fluhr said “So we make it really easy to invite your friends from all social networks to participate in a Spreecast.” (Read More: Top Countries for Small Businesses on LinkedIn.)
Fluhr saidthere are four types of Spreecast users — journalists, public figures, entertainment companies and social media enthusiasts.
Journalists are using it to create content in their editorial efforts, while athletes and celebrities are using Spreecast to build up their fan bases, Fluhr said. Media companies can use it to promote shows and create additional content, while social media enthusiasts are using Spreecast to “create conversation and dialog around topics they care about.” (Read More: Google Pullback Absolutely a ‘Buy’: Stephanie Link.)
While it remains early days, Fluhr said the company is seeing rapid growth as people show real appetite to participate. “In August, we had more traffic than April, May, June and July combined,” he noted. “In the last week, we’ve acquired probably more than 10 percent of our user base.”
With its infrastructure in the cloud, the company can also easily “grow our infrastructure to map to the growth in our usage,” the CEO said.
Spreecast has yet to come up with a plan to monetize its business, however.
“The monetization is something we’re working on,” Fluhr said. “We plan to roll it out in the next six months.”