How journalists can use Nyoombl to air live interviews

A new social platform which aims to put "conversations in public" by allowing users to broadcast, record and share video interviews has now been publicly launched.

When it first launched in private beta in November last year, Nyoombl (pronounced nimble) was described by TechCrunch as a "mix between Skype and YouTube", with the ability for users to host solo video broadcasts or chats with another user, which can be viewed publicly.

Two days ago the platform went public, after nine months of beta testing.

Users, who log in with their Facebook accounts, can hold private conversations with another person before taking the interview live with a split-screen video link. The interview will then be given a URL link, or users can embed them into their work after the event.

The recorded parts of conversations are limited to seven minutes, but broadcasts can be stopped and started again, with the end recording a collection of the broadcast elements.

At the time that Nyoombl launched in beta, a number of competitors in the online broadcasting space were highlighted by TechCrunch, from YouTube to Google+ Hangouts. In May this year Google+ Hangouts launched "On Air", also offering the ability to broadcast live video conversations to a viewing audience.

Founder and chief executive Oladayo Olagunju told Journalism.co.uk that it is "good when you have these players there".

"When you have so many entrants to the marketspace it's a source of validation of what we do," he added, but said he saw "subtle differences" in the offerings.

Olagunju also explains why he thinks the ability to broadcast conversations and interviews live will appeal to users.

"Firstly, the subject matter to be discussed may be one from which the public benefits, but the two people may be miles apart while their audience is scattered all over the world," he said.

"This is the case in the journalist scenario. With Nyoombl, you can interview someone in Iran or Sweden while you are in England and your audience is scattered across six continents.

"... Secondly, the idea of conversations in public is no sillier than the notion of resumes [CVs] in public (Linkedin) or thoughts in public (Twitter) or photos in public (Facebook). It will happen anyway."

He added: "In the end, Nyoombl is you. That's how we say it. Nyoombl is us all on a podium with the mic in our hands."

Olagunju added that the platform will also "be pairing people automatically based on interests".

Currently Nyoombl conversations can be watched on mobile devices, but only participated in via a web browser.

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