New Real-Time Video Social Networking Site “kondoot” May Be the Next Big Thing

Australians Mark Cracknell and Nathan Hoad had a really good idea, so good that they've just returned from a trip to the United States, that according to the Sydney Morning Herald, netted them $3.2 million in startup funds from thus far unnamed sources for their new kondoot social networking site. So surprising is their story that the Wall Street Journal is doing a story on them as well.

It all comes, Cracknell tells the Herald, from a simple idea he and his pal had will sitting around sipping a couple of pints. What if someone made a website that sort of combined Facebook, Skype and YouTube, so that people that wanted to post updates, like is done on Facebook, with video instead of typed in words? But, unlike YouTube, those updates would be live broadcasts. After scouring the Internet for such a site they came up empty and decided that it would have to be up to them. Such was born the idea of kondoot. That was just eighteen months ago. Today, the site has hundreds of thousands of subscribers from 133 countries.

The concept is actually very simple. Users subscribe to the site and are guided through setting up a free account in much the same was as is done with most social networking sites. Then, after some initial startup testing to make sure the user's camera and microphone are working properly (as is also done with Skype), the user can then proceed to make a live broadcast. In some ways, it's sort of like having your own live streaming television studio, which harkens back to the days of people signing up for time on local underground television stations (aka Wayne's World). The difference here of course is that each person has their own station and thus doesn't have to sign up for air time.

Since startup, the two have added apps for Smartphones as well so people can offer live updates from wherever they happen to be. Also, to help boost income, the two also have sold corporate accounts to such varied groups as rock bands and entertainers looking for a platform. The main income thoughk comes from advertising, just as it is with most social media sites.

Because of their age, and the fact that the two met while in college, they, particularly the younger Cracknell have been called the next version of Mark Zukerberg, though both say that's a little premature, though both expect their idea to blossom into something truly game changing on the Internet.