Former Twitter Employees Raise $2.75M In A Pre-Seed Round For Their New Social Media App Spill

Photo Credit: DeVaris Brown / DeVaris Brown and Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell / Spill

 

Twitter used to employ DeVaris Brown and Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell. They now work for themselves.

Insider reports Terrell, Twitter’s former global head of social and editorial, and Brown, a former product manager lead at the company, decided to combine their talents and create Spill, a social media app that considers and rewards users for their contributions to Black culture.

Spill was founded because the founders felt it was time for a new standard that no longer ignores the communities that are at the forefront of trends on platforms such as Twitter and TikTok.

“I think this is really a platform issue,” Terrell told TechCrunch. “Even before I left Twitter, over the last several months, I was just talking to Black female creators, talking to Black queer creators and I’m like, ‘How do you make your money? Is any platform supporting you? Does the idea of Spill interest you?’”

Spill launched its waitlist in December 2022 and has received 60,000 registrations since then, according to TechCrunch.

The excitement may be attributed to the promise of a feed in which users can “create, comment, amplify, or share a random thought, called a ‘Spill,'” according to the company’s website.

In addition, through a feature called “tea parties,” users can join in-app chat events with friends virtually or in person.

Furthermore, when posts go viral, users will automatically be compensated financially. This will be accomplished by utilizing blockchain technology to track the distribution of posts and pay the user. However, because Spill is not a web3 company, Terrell specifies that payment will be made in US dollars.

“It’s not a web3 thing,” Terrell said, according to TechCrunch. “But the use of blockchain is for both crediting creators and setting up a model for us to compensate them automatically. If they have a spill that goes viral and we monetize it, it’s really effective.”

 

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