Remember blab.im? During its short lifetime, the popular video discussion site developed an enthusiastic following of users, including notorious pharma-bro Martin Shkreli. According to CEO Shaan Puri, it quickly grew to 3.9 million users, with each spending an average of 65 minutes on it every day. Such was the devotion of its userbase.
But sadly, it wasn’t to be. One die-hard blab.im fan was Kiki Schirr – a popular cartoonist, artist, writer, and entrepreneur. Unimpressed with the lack of alternatives, she took matters into her own hands and launched her own blab successor, called WeKiki.
By and large, WeKiki faithfully follows the Blab rulebook. Four people can stream simultaneously in virtual rooms, which WeKiki called ‘parties.’ Furthermore, a theoretically infinite number of people can sit on the sidelines of a party as spectators, interacting through a comments sidebar.
But that’s where the similarities end, as WeKiki focuses on creating a safe and welcoming environment. Users have to sign up through their Facebook profiles, and moderators are bestowed with an arsenal of tools to keep the peace. These include the ability to boot and block users, as well as ban the profiles of abusive users on a permanent basis.
Founder Kiki Schirr said “We want to build a warm, welcoming environment where people can come and have fun together. We believe that video chatrooms provide a better opportunity to connect with another human being than day-to-day real life. While you might only be one inch from a stranger on a train, the thousand miles between you and a video chat partner seems a much shorter distance to cross!”
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
WeKiki is available now. While public rooms are free, Schirr plans to eventually introduce a paid tier that allows for private rooms.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.