Via.Me May Be Tumblr and Instagram’s Awesome Lovechild: Doug Chavez of RadiumOne Talks About the App
Via.Me is the popular content-sharing iPhone application that lets its users share pictures, video, sounds and even stories! It can perhaps be best described as a cross between Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, with 18 vintage and grunge filters that let you give your snapshot the look and feel of the cities they’re named after (Madrid is a personal favorite in the .ME office).
Its such a good app that we’ve written about it already – now we’re doing it again, this time featuring an interview by the San Francisco-based RadiumOne Labs Marketing Vice President, Doug Chavez. Doug gave us an inside view of the iPhone app that’s threatening to become an all-in-one stop for sharing personal stories across all your social media channels:
How did the idea of Via.Me start?
We created Via.Me because we were looking for a better way to share with our freinds and family. As with any product development, one of the most challenging things is letting go of all the tweaking and launching. One of our favorite moments was coming up with filter names. We decided to name our filters after some of the great cities of the World – for example, we feel the filtering in New York or Vegas represent the types of fun experiences we or other people have had in those cities.
Where did the Via.Me name come from, and how did you come up with the idea to apply for the via.me premium domain?
When thinking about a name, Via.Me was a natural fit as we were talking about sharing with our friends and already naturally saying something was “sent via Mike, or Kevin, etc.” And we know that having a vanity url such as Via.me/ your name or brand is something people are looking for in a personal brand identity online.
What would you say are some of the factors that were instrumental for the success of Via.Me?
People love to share their favorite moments from their daily lives with freinds and family. As sharing goes, pictures are atomic content – they’re easy to share and each one captures 1000 words. We believe video and audio notes are also atomic – if you can make them easy to share. Via.Me makes sharing pictures, video and audio really easy. We are pleased with the success we’re already seeing with Via.Me.
Via.me is advertised as „a better way to share and follow life’s moments“ and thousands of users agree. How would you compare the service to similar ones, such as Instagram, Tumblr or Pinterest?
Via.Me is about sharing and publishing in the easiest way possible. We launched with built in publishing to Facebook and Twitter and we have more platforms on the way. Because of our publishing aspect, I think we’re really closer to Tumblr vs. Instagram. The way we help our community share and comment on photos, video and audio is akin to Pinterest.
What can we look forward to in the future with Via.Me, what’s in store? Perhaps an Android app?
We have a lot of great features coming up that will make sharing with Via.Me even more fun, such as more ways to share, more filters. And we are fast at work to improve our overall user expereince on the via.me website. And of course, we will be releasing Via.Me on multiple platforms such as Android and Windows Phone7. Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks!
If you haven’t already, check out the app – or if you’re an Android user like me, you can look forward to having exciting, inventive and extremely convenient sharing options at your fingertips! We also invite you to share your thoughts on Via.Me in the comments section: what new features would you like to see, which ones do you like best?
And of course, stay tuned for more Via.Me news.
