Quick Pitch: Webdoc is a tool for arranging web content in shareable, embedable collages.
Genius Idea: A compromise between writing a status update and manning a blog.
While communicating on the web, says Webdoc co-founder Vincent Borel, you can either share short status updates with friends or launch a full-fledged blog. But there's really no place in between for sharing multiple pieces of content spontaneously. Webdoc aims to provide one by letting users easily create and share collages using just about any online content.
If you've used Storify, you'll recognize Webdoc's interface. Just like the social-media curating tool, Webdoc enables you to drag and drop content from all over the web -- including text, links, photos, videos and music -- onto a common canvas. An app store that will soon open to developers will offer free features such as polls, photo albums, slideshows and countdown clocks, and tweaking the arrangement of elements and design of the page is a matter of point and click.
When you're done, you can embed the Webdoc on any page, including a Facebook fan page, as though it were a YouTube video, or share its link on social networks as though it were an Instagram photo. Public Webdocs, like the one below by user Elena, also end up on Webdoc's Pinterest-like browsing experience. You can follow users to keep up with their new creations.
Webdoc's solution has been used by brands such as Nickelodeon, Playboy and The Guardian during the Switzerland-based startup's silent summer beta. Universal Music asked Nirvana fans to use the platform to create collages that shared their memories about the band.
Eventually, Webdocs hopes to spring a revenue stream from its appeal to brands by offering a premium version of the tool that will include advanced analytics. For now, users and brands are using the same free Webdocs tools to essentially stuff an entire webpage's functionality into one tweet or embed at whim.
"We should be able to express ourselves in a better way," Borel says. "I don't want to have a blog, it has to be spontaneous."
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
