Excel, a licensing, merchandising, and distribution company has announced intent to acquire ShoutOmatic, a social network of sorts that lets users record and share short voice status updates. The terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed.
As for Excel’s reason for interest in this “ShoutOmatic,” that company states that “the capabilities and applications of a ‘Shout’ are endless for brands, retailers, celebrities and politicians.” More than anything, it looks like Excel wants to market this tool directly to brands, noting that offline, QR code-powered applications will also be key. That’s right. QR codes are a selling point here.
Unfortunately for both parties, taking a look at ShoutOmatic reveals something worth being shut down, rather than bought:
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On the bright side, perhaps the purchase has to do ShoutOmatic’s patent involving voice technology? From Norm Levy, ShoutOmatic founder:
Social media success for brands and celebrities depends greatly on their ability to engage with their fans and followers in an authentic manner. ShoutOmatic is the next logical step in social media and I am thrilled to work with Excel because our voice technology will be exploited across all social networks and amazingly across all offline creative messaging venues as well.
According to the release, Excel believes that this startup will actually become “the next big thing in social media.” The problem is, terrible aesthetics aside, it’s hard to believe that the company has actually cracked the code to turning voice status messages into something remotely useful for the majority of the population. Closing thoughts: Seriously? That exists? Why?
Featured image: stuartpilbrow
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