TalkShoe
From TalkShoe Wiki
TalkShoe (launched April 1st, 2005) is a privatley-owned service that allows users to host or join a live online talk show called a "Community Call" and to upload their own podcasts they recorded themselves. The service revolves around the TalkShoe Live! client which is avilable as a slightly stipped down web client and a more beefed-up Pro version that includes ShoePhone, it is also the first service to have shows based around social netowrking. A call can be syndicated via RSS and email and downloaded after the live show ends as a podcast. Hosts are then paid a monthly fee based on the quantity of listeners their shows receive, a user can also use TalkShoe to host their podcasts without the need to go live. TalkShoe's name is a play on Ed Sullivan's usage of the word "Show", pronouncing it as "Shoe".
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[edit] History
TalkShoe was started on April 1st, 2005 by a FORE Systems Employee Dave Nelsen as a way to find, connect with, and use voice to talk to interesting and like-minded people wherever they are. Surprisingly on the same day as their founding, TalkShoe recieved it's first employee. Dave Nelsen wanted the interface to be easy-to-use and perfect and so he and some other people slaved away on the client until July of 2005 where the first TalkShoe chat took place. It was only in text, but it was a step forward. In December of 2005. The crew just finished setting up most of the VOIP and Confrence bridges and the first confrence call was set up, providing the voice aspect of TalkShoe for the first time, and coinidently their first investor was in December.
After getting it's first beta volunteer in April of 2006. TalkShoe went live 2 months later still in beta state. Nelsen intentionally kept the site's launch low-key, wishing to build site traffic slowly by word of mouth. Early talkcasts were by local Pittsburgh personalities, including radio talkshow hosts who simulcast via TalkShoe as another method of broadcasting their show and taking call-ins. The first simulcast radio show launched on TalkShoe during August 7th, 2006.
TalkShoe would not see success until November 8th, 2006 when net@nite premiered on TalkShoe with a live aspect. The power of the show and the likeness of Leo Laporte would bring TalkShoe to break the 25K and 5K ranges in terms of visitors, break 50K Downloads/Week and get TalkShoe featured on the Podcast User Magazine and be #2 of the top 100 Web 2.0 Apps rank all in thanks to net@night which made TalkShoe more recognizable and more discoverable. On April 7th, TalkShoe sponsored the 5th Podcamp Camp in Pittsburg, a convention dedicated to podcasting, newbies and professionals alike and in the same month, a 24hr continuous Kiva Talk-a-thon for charity was hosted to help out with people in need.
On June 25th, 2007. TalkShoe announced the ShoePhone beta which would allow users to call in without the need of an external VOIP client. Coincidentially on the same month. TalkShoe introduced it's Badges which would allow users to listen and download the show without the need to visit the site. And it's widgets which would allow people to put TalkShoe on their desktop. ShoePhone would be introduced on September 11th, 2007 and 4 of hosts from TalkShoe would be nominated for Podcast Awards.
On October 10th, 2007. Leo Laporte announced that net@night would no longer be live at TalkShoe and has been revamped to be released on Wednesdays. This incident might of caused a blow to TalkShoe if it wern't for shows like Typical Mac User Podcast Live. And in November. TalkShoe partnered up with Meebo to provide a built in interface into Meebo. Allowing Meebo users to use TalkShoe directly in Meebo.
From December to January. The company introduced a Facebook application which allowed users to browse through shows and join them on the fly without opening one in another windows. The company would later introduce it's web client which would allow anonymous users to join even. Even though it did cause some controversy. And lastly, they also introduced the iPhone client which would allow iPhone users to do the same. Even to this day. TalkShoe will still come up with something innovative.
[edit] Service
TalkShoe revolves around one thing. That anyone can create live podcasts and let anyone join them and then they can talk about anything they want. Like a community. These recordings can be set for any time they want for any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 3:00:00 or exceed 30MB (if you are uploading), a PIN can be set by the user to identify himself every time he calls in, as it is required to call in if you are a member. People can also join as a guest and are given random PIN numbers that TalkShoe uses to Identify guests. TalkShoe can also be used as a podcast hosting service to allow people to host podcasts when other hosts don't suit them. TalkShoe also allows users to rate programs on a 1 to 5 scale and them leave a comment for them after they rated the show.
[edit] Software
- Main article: TalkShoe Live!
The software allows hosts to start or stop the recording of their podcast, and to mute or unmute the text and/or voice chat ability of callers to the show. It allows callers to listen to the show in streaming audio if they have not phoned in (the stream is automatically muted when the software senses a voice connection from the same user), or to set a flag indicating they wish to be unmuted (that is, allowed to speak "on the air") if they have phoned in. It allows both host and callers to chat via text-message to each other, and to see who is currently and no longer connected to the show. The chat scrolls horizontally as to allow for out-of-band conversations and to allow people to not be confused by who is in a conversation. It also allows the users for easy tracking of the chat, ShoePhone allows users to call in without the need for a third-party VOIP client.
[edit] Calling In
There are 2 ways to call in. By landline or by VOIP. People can dial "+1-724-444-7444" to dial in via phone, which is a telephone number located in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Service, You can also use VOIP providers or applications such as Skype, Gizmo Project to dial in but some of you must pay to dial and outbound number or get a service such as Vonage. You can also dial in using VOIP at "sip:123@66.212.134.192". But you must have a VOIP program like SJPhone or X-Lite to connect to VOIP and TalkShoe only allows 50 users using VOIP at one time.
[edit] Payment
TalkShoe offers a payment program for users that allows it users to make cash, and as a bonus, hosts can also earn 25% more when they refer a host to TalkShoe. Users shows must be on a regular basis, average at least 20 live participants per week, average at least 1,000 downloads per week and must be willing to work with selected advertisers to do live reads. TalkShoe earns money by placing ads in both the beginning and end of shows and also through provided by inserting advertisements at the beginning and end of each broadcast, as well as telephone access fees and premium services. Users can also earn more money by using Blubrry.
