Social TV co Stevie creates content from Facebook

Arab Spring gave Stevie's founders the idea of direct broadcasts of social network content, without the middleman.

Social television application Stevie, founded by CEO Yael Givon and her partner, Gil Rimon, was officially launched at the TechCrunch Disrupt event in New York yesterday. The concept emerged during last year's Arab Spring, as they watched the uprisings on TV while simultaneously reading Twitter updates and YouTube videos. They asked themselves if it were possible to eliminate the middleman, if everything was already coming from social networks.

Stevie's concept is to create genuine social television, rather than simply watching regular broadcasts of events. It is offering TV channels whose content comes from Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

"Stevie's idea is collect the content you and your friends shared on Facebook and Twitter, and to begin to analyze it. Comic clips will appear on a comedy channel, music clips on a music channel; things with many responses and likes will go directly to the top stories, alongside status updates and birthdays, which appear on the side of the screen," explains Givon. "The technology behind Stevie prioritizes and analyzes all kinds of content and categorizes it."

Givon says that, later, additional content may be added from networks such as LinkedIn, and Pinterest, and from video sites such as Vevo. Stevie has a simple, well designed, and easy to use interface. The product includes a mobile application for iPhones and Android devices, which turns a smartphone into a TV remote and which can present synopses of video clips being viewed.

Givon adds that the service is currently only available on computers, but the direction is smart TV linked to the internet. Smart TVs already support YouTube clips and Facebook, but Givon says, "Each application is accessible separately, and there is no overall system with social links that someone edits."

Stevie's target audience is young Americans who live on Facebook. "We have made sure that the product can be presented in as many languages as possible, including Hebrew," says Givon. The company's business model is far from applicable, because it wants to grow first. It later expects to include ads between programs, sponsorships for content, and other video ads.

Both Givon and Rimon have technology backgrounds. Givon previously served as marketing manager at ICQ and co-founded Sense of Fashion (now 76 Hudson). Rimon has participated in several content and TV technology ventures and has been a TV correspondent.

Stevie has raised $300,000 from Jeff Pulver, Gigi Levy, and Simi Efrati. The company is participating in the Microsoft Israel R&D Center's incubator.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 22, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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