Watch out, Twitter. Open-source microblogging startup StatusNet has raised $875,000 in a seed round of funding from Montreal Start Up, iNovia Capital, and European angel investor Oleg Tscheltzoff.
Founded in 2008, the Canadian startup's platform is used by organizations to set up their own Twitter-like sites, which they can choose to make public or private. It develops software that it says runs hundreds of microblogging sites across the Web, including the Identi.ca community.
The funds will go to flesh out the company's sales department, along with support and marketing, according to Evan Prodromou, CEO of StatusNet. "We plan to use this capital to build the sales, support and marketing power needed to take our software and services to the marketplace," he said.
The StatusNet engine allows companies and communities to set up their own Twitter-like Web site, so that employees, customers or friends can share quick status updates, links, and files. The engine includes APIs and tools to receive and send updates through IM and SMS as well as through Twitter and Facebook.
"StatusNet is ready to take its place in the market as the WordPress of microblogging," said John Stokes, lead partner at Montreal Start Up. "The growth of the Twitter platform has proven the importance of this medium, and we believe that StatusNet can play an important role in bringing this capability to broader audiences."
The company has commercialized the Open Source offering with support, customization services, and a hosting platform at status.net. The hosted service, currently in private beta, is scheduled to launch publicly before the year-end. Customers can choose between private sites, similar to yammer.com, and public sites for publishing or community engagement.
COMMENTARY: Seems that everybody is getting in on the microblogging craze. Both Facebook and Google recently signed deals to feed Tweets to their websites.
I had a look at StatusNet, and it appears to be a wiki or "aggregator" of microblogger content. Sort of a networking community for microbloggers.
It's business statement states, "This is a wiki for user documentation for identi.ca and other microblogging sites that run the StatusNet software. Please help us out by editing!"
It requires that you install StatusNet's open-source wiki software. I haven't gone over to "the other side" just yet, nor will I abandon Twitter anytime soon.
It is quite possible that Twitter is now a microblogging lovemark, and any competitors thinking about getting into the microblogging market don't stand a chance, like those getting into the mainstream search engine market.
Facebook decided not to expand its Facebook Lite and instead opted to accept Twitter feeds. Case in point, I now have all my Tweets appear on my Facebook profile page.
Just where StatusNet is headed with this remains to be seen. In the world of venture capital, $875,000 is not a lot of capital, maybe six to nine months worth, a year if nobody draws salaries. Good luck to StatusNet.
Courtesy of an article dated October 30, 2009 appearing in MediaPost Publications' Online Media Daily
Evan,
StatusNet needs to be very clear about: Need they are filling. Problem they are solving. Benefits and advantages. I am also opposed to downloading the StatusNet software unless I understand exactly what the software does. These are not made clear on your home page.
Posted by: Tommy Toy | 10/31/2009 at 02:08 PM
Gah! No, StatusNet is not a wiki! It's a microblogging tool. You can download the software, install it on your server, and have your own mini-Twitter microblogging community.
There is a StatusNet wiki that helps people install and use the software. Maybe that's why you got confused?
Posted by: Evan Prodromou | 10/31/2009 at 12:44 AM