Good morning all!
Ebroji was born out of a few observations and desires related to tech, culture and language.
We're on our phones ALL the time. Smartphone users spend 114 minutes on average per day texting.
Text lacks tone and texture, nuance and spark and Gifs are magic: they inject such a contagious joy and spontaneity into any thread that the experience of nailing just the right one(s) becomes cathartic.
Language is also culture. It can be niche, words and phrases can take off as trends, be celebrated, mocked, spoiled and remixed. Urban and Black American culture is particularly sticky and ever-changing: culturally specific words and phrases transform from an American mainstream laughing stock to corporate currency in a matter of weeks, months even days. Aryn, Glenn and I found the climate erratic, fascinating and frustrating.
Why wait for mainstream validation, and it's inevitable exploitation of language before getting creative with it's use? Why text in black in white when we have color? Why wrestle tone and the patchwork of modern communication threads with the same old winking emoji that everyone uses, everywhere? Why crawl when we can run?
Ebroji takes and inspires that engagement by kicking open the boundaries of visual communication all together! No more foraging the inter-wilderness for gifs like a lonesome hoarder. Kick back, relax and keep cracking jokes with your homies because Ebroji meets you exactly where you live, in your damn keyboard! From the latest digi-cultural sensations to the deepest (and most random) gifs, Ebroji sorts and supplies them at your fingertips.
As your gif concierge, we do all the work and leave you with the good stuff: the fun and the credit.
Thanks Ben. Yes, we honestly didn't anticipate launching publicly this soon, and are building the tutorial vids and supplemental app store images now. We'd been sharing early Ebroji versions with a diverse test population but the nature of Ebroji is using it and "using it" is communicating with your people which really just becomes this contagious pillow fight of creative, enhanced expression and before we knew it our test group's size exploded: recipients of amazing gifs that perfectly express the moment, coming at you faster than writing a sentence is a helluva recruiting tool. "How the hell did you have that random Karate Kid training Gif at the ready when I texted you about training today?" "Ebroji son."
Once we discovered Product Hunt, we were inspired to just dive in and improve as we go.
Jesse, congrats on the launch! Love the execution & as well as the mission behind it.
Speaking of mission, what I was most struck by at our dinner was your commitment to Social Justice. I know we'll explore this more during the LIVE chat, but can you talk more about your dreams & aspirations in this realm?
@eriktorenberg Thanks Erik, I suspect that some of my earlier response to Patrick speaks to your question as well. While social justice work is a part of my background, Ebroji was truly born out a desire to simply make a fun product. I find that the very nature of looking, feeling, sounding and/or thinking differently in spaces to which you were not invited/made to feel welcome, can itself be viewed as a form of activism. In many cases, movements and words like "activism" and "social justice" say more about the space they're disrupting than the few disrupters themselves. In truth, disrupters are often the disrupted, in search of a break. I suspect that sensitivity on my part will illuminate a few parallels between the worlds of tech and human rights advocacy.
My aspiration is always to learn more, wherever possible and with no tech background at all, i'm just excited to have so much ahead of me. To learn from you all; wrestle with tough concepts, questions and challenges.
@ijessewilliams & @aryndlw this looks like a lot of fun! Downloading to test out immediately 😸 Can you tell us a bit more about the back story to Ebroji? What was the inspiration behind creating it? - Also, what's your favourite or most used gif? 😜
@ems_hodge@aryndlw That's the thing Emily, My favorite gif(s) change every day because there are sooooo many and so many new ones created every single day. Unlike words or emojis, Gifs are infinite. And i've gotta say, i the process of exploring the gif landscape on Ebroji and wanting the nail just the right one for the occasion, and doing it fast to have maximum impact on my opponent-- i mean friend who i'm texting/emailing with -- that is a huge part of the thrill! Ebroji is the tool to constantly be able to craft a just the right joke, for the right person in the right moment!
My fav categories include BYE-CAN'T EVEN and C'MON SON-REALLY? but damn there are so many great ones. I also love digging deep for that old movie or moment and remixing it for a completely unintended use, i.e. Audrey Hepburn clipped at just the right moment, judging you with a contemporary phrase. Eartha Kitt crying to express your joy and laughter....it goes on.
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How is this "The first curated GIF keyboard"? What makes it different than Giffage or Riffsy (which look almost identical to Ebroji) and /Slash Keyboard that can allow it to be called the "first"?
@unseenvision Hi Patrick, and thanks for your question. Curated is the key word here. The few other gif warehouses that go mobile are the Walmart to our boutique, with a line around the block.
Cultural expression, as I'm sure you know, is more than LIKE IT, DON'T LIKE IT, CAT GIFS and THUMBS UP. Ebroji is a living, breathing, evolving catalog of specific categories that exist the way users ALREADY speak. It's an extension, an amplifier of their voice, thoughts and feeling as opposed to a pile of the trendy slogans of the day. Ebroji is a tailored language tool first, and a damn entertaining one 2nd. It's not broad comedy.
Ebroji is directly connected to the way we actually speak, embracing the words and expressions we actually use. We just launched it on twitter and what resonates about the response is the central theme of gratitude. Users are thankful that the categories sound like them, authentically, not some corporation trying to be cool, and the images look like them -- ALL of them. Brown, trans, ALL, people can see and use images that they connect to as an extension of themselves and are grateful that someone, anyone created something that doesn't require them to contort themselves into a different body and syntax- to identify with that which isn't them. Ebroji is about being ourselves and that will likely demonstrate that success doesn't require exclusion.
Ultimately, a big part of the appeal is contributing to the filling of a hole in communication, in culture, it's validating and FUN AS HELL.
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@ijessewilliams Where do you source the GIFs from? Even if you're uploading them yourself.
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Hey Jesse. Great job with Ebroji. I've been using it since yesterday and it's pretty dope 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾. Just curious as to how you got involved in this project and technology in general.
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Beautiful work. Ebroji is everything. There’s a gif for all of the occasions and for all of the feelings. Makes you realize how woefully insufficient the emoji keypad is. Also, the significance of having apps that actually approximate how we (black folk) communicate is essential. Thank you!
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