Why Sean Parker thinks the Inteet really needs another social network - CNET

"Maybe I'm just old, or maybe I don't get high on my own supply," said Parker, the guy who helped Mark Zuckerberg tu Facebook into a global behemoth.

Get a Room

The new version of Airtime, which became available on iOS and Android devices on Wednesday, isn't like the original. Airtime 1.0 was a real-time, Web-based video-messaging service where people could chat one on one with friends or strangers.

But the latest iteration of Parker's app aspires to be a social network, one based almost entirely on real-time video. The premise of Airtime is the room, a virtual place in which users can share content -- be it Instagram photos, YouTube videos, Spotify playlists, Giphy gifs -- and enjoy them in real time together. (Here's a video of the product).

"There's this huge gap in the world for a kind of multi-user, many-to-many synchronous consumption of content in groups that can either be public or private," said Parker. "All the things we could sit here and do in person we ought to be able to do virtually even if we're separated by great distances."

For Parker, the current crop of social media options aren't cutting it. Periscope, Meerkat and Facebook Live, for example, allow users to live stream. But he says people want the option of limiting what they broadcast to smaller, more private audiences.

Parker wouldn't like the comparison, but Airtime is like the lovechild of Facebook and Google Hangouts. But a major difference from those two: when you're using Airtime, your avatar is live video of you, so beware.

The mobile app allows you to create "rooms" where up to 250 people can simultaneously participate, in the form of talking, messaging or sharing content. Airtime's execs see the app's rooms being especially popular with smaller groups of friends wanting to experience private moments together.