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Back from the dead, Justin.tv to be resurrected as a channel on Snapchat
A long time ago in a far less cashed up Silicon Valley than it is today, a crazy guy decided to live stream his life on the internet for all to see, and then sold the company that resulted from that to Amazon.com, Inc. for $970 million.
OK, so we skipped some of the story there, but the guy was Justin Kan and the original stream was called Justin.tv. Initially a stream of his life in the days before smartphones, Justin.tv then itself became a service where other people could also live stream as they please.
If none of this story is ringing a bell yet, it turned out that the most popular use of Justin.tv was the live streaming of games, and eventually the company spun off its gaming streams into a new service by the name of Twitch, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Justin.tv, the streaming platform, was closed as all Amazon was interested in was Twitch, but in a Hollywood twist, Justin.tv is returning in a sequel.
Snapchat
Kan announced via a job advertisement that the original Justin.tv will be recreated, but this time through Snapchat.
“After learning about Snapchat Stories, I’ve become obsessed with Snapchat,” Kan wrote. “As a social tool, it fulfills a need outside of messaging (1-1 and group communication) and Facebook / Twitter / Instagram (social validation). As a platform, I think Snapchat is on the tipping point of going mainstream.”
“I love putting my random adventures in travel, startups and entrepreneurship on my Snapchat Story. It’s led to a lot of positive feedback and serendipitous interactions. So, after discussing this with a few people and not coming up with any good reasons not to do it, I’ve decided to restart Justin.tv as a Snapchat channel.”
At this stage, it doesn’t appear that Kan is looking to recreate the full Justin.tv experience (it involved him having a camera stuck to his head… and this is not only pre-smart phones but pre-Go Pro’s as well), but instead will involve someone following him around recording his daily activities.
Applicants for the position should “maybe have some experience with video or photography and maybe have experience working in media / communications,” according to the position description, with a definite bonus of having an interest in startups, given Kan now spends his days working at Y Combinator.
Applications should be sent to jobs@justinkan.com.
Image credit: Wikipedia/ Wikimedia Commons
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