Vokle is an embeddable Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 microsite

Microsite

A microsite is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page or a small cluster of pages which are meant to function as a discreet entity within an existing website or to complement an offline activity...

 application

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

 that allows speakers to broadcast live video to a virtual auditorium of viewers and take live video calls and text questions from the audience.

History

VOKLE privately launched a prototype in March of 2009, and PC Magazine noted that VOKLE was a "web-based platform for video conversations" that seemed to be "adding voice to social networking." VOKLE refined its alpha version and launched its current version to the public on December 11, 2009. The beta version of VOKLE allows for remote co-hosts, screening of video calls and live video editing, and is aimed "to help you take social to the next step by providing you with your own customized, branded video chat platform." The application is web-based, can be embedded on external websites, and does not require plug-ins or downloads.
In July 2011, VOKLE launched a unique recording feature that automatically divides video and text questions into specific chapters, which can be browsed and selected before the viewer plays the recording. These chapters can be shared easily on Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 or Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 through buttons, and can also be embedded on external websites.

Financing

After their initial seed round in 2008, VOKLE began raising Angel funds. In April 2010, Co-Founder Edward Dekeratry confirmed that VOKLE had secured a small round that allowed the company to pay for basic engineering. In August 2010, Tech Coast Angels

Tech coast angels

-Tech Coast Angels:Tech Coast Angels is an angel investor network in the United States and one of the leading sources of funding to early-stage companies in Southern California...

, Southern California's largest angel investment group, confirmed they had invested in Vokle. Angel funding continued until April 2011, when VOKLE closed its angel round with an extra $767,000 from investors including Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap

Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...

, Rafe Furst

Rafe Furst

Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, angel investor, cancer awareness advocate and part time professional poker player. Furst currently works on and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. He regularly blogs about complex systems on EmergentFool...

 and Tech Coast Angels, "bringing Vokle’s total funding to $1.26 million."

Broadcasters

Grammy-winning recording artist Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap

Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...

 is one of several notable musicians who have used VOKLE. Other musicians on VOKLE include Ben Folds

Ben Folds

Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...

 and Weird Al. VOKLE has also been utilized by the political news site The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...

and its founder Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...

,. The Huffington Post featured a VOKLE series on No Impact Man

No Impact Man

No Impact Man is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. The film, which premiered September 4, 2009, follows Colin Beavan and his family during their year-long experiment to have sustainable zero impact on the environment.-See also:* Appropriate technology*...

star Colin Beavan

Colin Beavan

Colin Beavan is an American non-fiction writer and internet blogger noted for recording the attempts of his family to live a "zero impact" lifestyle in New York City for one year...

, and the senior editor of the Huffington Post Willow Bay

Willow Bay

Willow Bay is an American television correspondent, editor, author, former model, and wife of Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger. She is currently a Senior Editor for the Huffington Post and a special correspondent for Bloomberg Television.-Career:Bay was born Kristine Carlin Bay in New York, New...

 interviewed motivational speaker Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins

Anthony "Tony" Robbins is an American self-help author and motivational speaker. He became well known through his infomercials and self-help books, Unlimited Power: The New Science Of Personal Achievement and Awaken The Giant Within...

  on VOKLE in the summer of 2010. On November 17, 2010, Time Warner Cable collaborated with Former Vice President Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

 to broadcast across the world on VOKLE and discuss education with panelists such as Jamie and Adam of MythBusters

MythBusters

MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...

. On July 16th 2011, a Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

 reporter hosted a live show with mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...

about a temporary closure of the 405 freeway.

External links

Vokle website

Vokle official blog

Vokle official twitter