Social video site Spreecast is taking its hybrid of live streams interactive conversations to your smartphone with a pair of apps released Thursday for
iOS Android.

The once desktop-only Spreecast launched in 2011 as a forum for users to have public conversations with each other.
Unlike video platforms like Skype, which let users chat privately, or live streaming sites like uStream or stin.tv,
which let you watch live events, Spreecast is more like a 1960s party line updated for the
21^st century.

Spreecast

How it works: Users set up a channel pick a topic to discuss. ople can browse the list of channels request to join in an interesting video
conversation. That request must be approved by the conversation’s host, or they can participate in the chatroom alongside the video. Spreecast can host up
to four simultaneous streams, so four people can appear on the feed at once. You don’t have to download a client or install any software; Spreecast is all
online. Or it has been, until now.

o it’s for: News organizations like the ll Street urnal s Angeles es professional broadcasters like Scott are already using Spreecast to do one-hour shows or host journalist chats on current
events. But anyone can use Spreecast, which is part of its appeal.

Many of its regular users aren’t even registered, Spreecast CEO ff Fluhr says. Fluhr declined to disclose how many people have signed up, but said
audience is growing a “significant number” of people are trying to access Spreecast on their smartphones.

Spreecast

There are b conferencing services, private video platforms, streaming sites galore, but there are few sites that let you watch other conversations
jump in, if you want. If you miss a chat, the site archives all conversations for future playback.

“[ople] are having public forum conversations; it’s like the future of the watercooler,” says Fluhr, who also founded ticket-selling site StubHub. “You might gather around
talk about a game that happened last night or a current event like the bombings in Boston or the new pope. That’s the kind of conversation you can find
on Spreecast every day.”

That democratization of current events is now going mobile. Spreecast’s mobile users will be able to watch chat along with broadcasts, a future
version of the app will in a few months let viewers join in on camera.