Vator.tv, a social media site for entrepreneurs, announced a micro-blogging service for startups today that allows these companies to update their followers about the latest developments at their companies. This micro-blogging service works similar to Twitter, though the character limit has been raised from 140 to 280. Currently, only ten companies are using this feature during the alpha program, as Vator.tv was worried about potential scalability issues. These ten companies are Occipital, Nimbuzz, Blippr, Indaba Music, Crispy Gamer, Wize, Ignighter, Famplosion, Vayyoo, and Buzzd. Vator.tv expects to roll out a larger beta program within the next month.
From Video to Micro-Blogging
Since its inception in 2007, Vator.tv mostly focused on video, but, as Kedric Van de Carr, Vator.tv’s VC of Marketing and Business Development, told us, adding micro-blogging to Vator.tv’s arsenal of features was a logical next step. According to Van der Carr, Vator.tv wants to give entrepreneurs the option to give frequent updates about their company that would usually not be worth a press release or even a post on the company blog.
On Vator.tv, you can now follow these companies and their updates will appear in your ‘my Vator’ tab. Looking at the stream right now, it seems like the companies in the alpha program are making good use of the service and often use it to get input from the community.
Competition for Twitter?
Vator.tv considers itself as a competitor to social networks like Twitter and company blogs, but according to Van der Carr, one of the main advantages of Vator.tv is that it can tell companies who exactly their followers are. Vator.tv gives its users statistics about its followers, including whether they are students, investors, or business owners.
We have seen a lot of specialized social networks lately that weren’t very interesting, but judging from the reaction of the companies’ in the alpha program, Vator.tv looks like it may have hit upon a nerve within the startup community.
