Much like the looping six-second videos that endeared it to its users, Vine’s lifespan as a company has vanished short. But Vine showed the world that a simple social video platform can spark a lot of creativity.
Looplio, a Chicago-based startup, wants to take that hybrid of social media and video to the next level by letting its users collaborate on videos.
The idea is simple. After creating a new project in Looplio, a user can add videos, music, photos, text and illustrations in intervals up to five minutes. Once they’re satisfied with the result, the user passes the project over to a friend who can add five minutes of their own.
“I figured, let’s give people something powerful, simple and intuitive, that they can share with everybody, and with unlimited collaboration,” said Paul Templar, founder and CEO of Looplio. “Where it wouldn’t matter if you had five, 10 or 100 collaborators, and they could have something beautifully edited and back to them in a matter of minutes.”
When Templar came up with the idea for Looplio, Vine was still one of the hottest video startups on the market. But although he enjoyed Vine’s social features and simple interface, he found himself wanting more opportunities to collaborate with friends and family on longer video projects.
Potential use cases for the platform range from collaborative video diaries from weddings and other celebrations to short film projects and promotional videos, said Templar. His guiding principle in building the platform, however, was that anyone should be able to use it, whether they’re a professional concert promoter or just a proud grandparent.
“My grandmother takes about a hundred million photos of my son every time we go to see her,” said Templar. “I wanted it to be something really easy and intuitive that I could also send to her, so she could easily add all of her photos from her smartphone, add music and send it back to me or to other family members."
Currently, videos created in Looplio can be shared on social platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The team is working on a web viewer that will make it possible to embed videos around the web as well. But the platform also has a built-in social network that lets users engage with each other’s content.
“We are working on adding social features such as a feed where users can go in and like videos and comment,” said Templar, adding that users will be able to comment via video, voice or text. “We also have a feature that lets users vote up videos for things like lighting, sound and cinematography that gives creators extra analytics.”
Templar, who is a Marine Corps veteran and currently on leave from medical school to launch Looplio, got started on the project in September of last year. He and his co-founders recently brought on an in-house developer team to get the product in shape for launch in the first quarter of 2017.
Templar said the eight-person company is fully funded through launch, and is currently in talks with potential investors for its next round.
Images via Looplio.
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