Will Tout be bigger than Twitter?

On Wednesday, Shaquille O'Neill announced that he is retiring from the NBA via social media app Tout. This is a big score for the internet startup that launched its service on April 12 of this year. But will the apparent endorsement of Shaq help Tout break through the clutter?

Tout is a video sharing app for your iPhone, with Android and iPad apps coming soon according to their website. In essence, it's a video Twitter. And like Twitter, Tout limits length of your content; in Tout's case that means being able to record only 15 seconds of video at a time. This keeps file sizes about the same as a large photo which helps any potential bandwidth issues. According to Tout CEO, Michael Downing, they tried 7 seconds, 9 seconds and 11 seconds, but after feedback they decided 15 seconds was optimal and made each "tout" (or would it be "toot") a bit more personal.

Btw, speaking of their website, it turns out Tout.com is using a little creative freedom in the "What people are saying" section. One of their quotes looks like it comes from CNET, which technically it does. But the article it comes from actually compares Tout to a failed video sharing service called 12seconds that went belly up in 2010 after a two-year run. The rest of the article is actually not very complimentary of Tout. The quote they use is actually a comment from the CEO that appears in the article. As does the quote from benharvell.com. So the CEO thinks it's an awesome product, that's for sure.

But I digress.

Mr. Downing thinks that video is more intuitive because we are born with the ability to process the world visually, while it takes up to 7-8 years to get the hang of writing, "and many of us still aren't that good at it."

Of course the flaw in that argument is that the market for Tout is not newborns. In fact, according to a report last year from Pingdom.com, 85% of the people who use social networks are over the age of 18. The average age of a Twitter user is 39. And if you really have a tough time writing a thought in 140 characters over the age of 18, then you may have bigger problems than using Twitter.

No doubt Tout will receive a bump from Shaq's endorsement. (And no doubt Shaq has some kind of business relationship with Tout.) He is already splattered all over their home page. But I don't think that will be enough to really put Tout in the mainstream social consciousness. Tout is a nice little app, but it doesn't do anything that I can't already do with SocialCam or even the video recorder on my smartphone when I upload to YouTube. And both of those don't put a time limit on the length of my video.

Moreover, the same day that Shaq announced his retirement, Twitter also made an announcement. They have unveiled a native photo and video sharing service. This is part of their overall plan to start bringing third-party services in-house. Not the best news for Tout.

So although Tout's CEO thinks "we will be much bigger than Twitter," I think he may just be touting his own horn.

What do you think of Tout? Have you used it before? Will you try it?

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.