Ricky Gervais Introduces The Just Sayin' App, Bringing Voice Conversations To Social Media

Today, September 19th 2012, "The Office" creator and comedic innovator Ricky Gervais launches the Just Sayin' app (app store), the first-ever voice conversation application for social media. The free iPhone app allows users to converse with voice and share the recorded conversation to their social media profiles, allowing followers to listen in and reply back. Created in partnership with voice-technology company, CloudTalk, Just Sayin' users can also post any combination of voice, text, photos, and video to their respective Twitter and Facebook profiles. Just Sayin' co-founder and Creative Director Ricky Gervais says, "Just Sayin' is to radio what Twitter is to newsprint — I'm just sayin'!"

CloudTalk CEO David Hayden, credited for launching one of the world's first search engines, Magellan, and the email hosting service, Critical Path, began building cloud-based voice technology in 2009. Ricky Gervais immediately grasped Hayden's vision for Just Sayin' when the two met earlier this year, and aided in refining the app's overall direction. "Making the human voice a natural part of any social web experience is the next big thing," says Gervais. "Voice as a monologue is narcissistic, voice as a dialogue is social; social media is a place where people desire to be both."

Just Sayin' voice conversations are shared as asynchronous audio messages in the user's social media profiles. Users can talk one-on-one, or one-to-many, and can invite others to join the conversation. Hayden believes, "Voice has been the missing link to a person's online persona. Social media interaction is widely silent and we know text has its limitations, sentiments can be difficult to express in 140 characters."

Just Sayin' is a mobile-first solution, compatible with any iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, including the new iPhone 5 and IOS 6 and is accessible by desktop atwww.justsayinapp.com. While voice-centric social media grows rapidly in Asian markets, these services are primarily SMS tools and are heavily fee based; alternatively, Just Sayin' is a free cloud-powered app. Just Sayin's Android app will be made available in the Google Play marketplace by year's end. Hayden predicts, "Just Sayin' has the potential to become the New Medium of all media, the question is not 'who will adopt this medium', but 'who will take it the farthest?'"

Just Sayin' is especially valuable to celebrities whose fans demand personal and authentic content; politicians, athletes, comedians, and musicians can use Just Sayin' to better engage their fans. The app's technology enables news outlets to utilize social media for voice interviews, celebrities can now engage with fans in dialogue, and the general public can communicate online as they would offline: by speaking. In a beta version released earlier this year, 2008 Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, soccer star Brandi Chastain, and musical talents Cavo, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Crossfade, and IKILLYA, were able to use Just Sayin' to speak directly to fans. Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx shares, "I use the Just Sayin' app as a way to further close the gap between fan and artist.  Not only do the fans get to hear my voice directly but I get to hear theirs as well.  I love it."