Looking to eavesdrop on conversations? Say goodbye to privacy and hello to Public, an app that wants to you to chat, you guessed it, in public. The brainchild of Boxee founder Avener Ronen, Public lets you “discover and follow conversation from the most fascinating people in entertainment, politics, sports, and tech.” So if you’re constantly looking for opportunities to be a fly on the wall, this is it.
The public chatting platform lets you peek into conversations as soon as you open the app, and if you want to partake in the discussion, you’re invited to participate via the comment section in the side bar. And if you think you have something more substantive to contribute, you can request to be part of the chat group itself, and really get in on the action.
Whether you’re interested in sports or sake, you can probably find a thread that suits your conversational needs. But be warned, everyone else can see what you’re saying too … though there’s no guarantee that all conversations will be interesting.
But as Ronen wrote in a Medium blog post announcing the app’s launch, “Conversation is a core part of the human experience,” and moreover, “Sharing a good conversation is something that’s connected us since before the advent of written language.” Whereas most of our conversations today are relegated to various messaging platforms, Public wants to open up the channels of communication to the world.
So what’s the goal of Ronen’s latest adventure? “We want to build Public as a platform for people to … share their great conversations,” he wrote. “We expect these chats to be inspiring, emotional, controversial, humorous, deep, mundane, informative, and entertaining. They will hopefully represent the richness of the human experience.”
Ultimately, the goal is for Public to cement its reputation as the “platform of choice for both creators and viewers” when it comes to conversation. So whether you’re looking to tap into conversations on Black Art & Literature, Queer Representation in Pop Culture, or you know, your summer plans, jump into Public and see what’s happening in the public sphere.
