The team at Miso has just launched a brand new social TV app for the iPhone called Quips. In a way, it’s a little like Pinterest for TV shows, but instead of sharing your favorite things, you’re sharing images of your favorite television moments — in an app. “Quips lets you find a great scene from a TV show, caption it with your thoughts, and share it instantly with friends on Facebook, Twitter, or on your Quips feed!” explains Miso’s Prakash Venkataramanin in a blog post. “(It) incorporates the social activity you love with incredibly beautiful images from the very shows you watch.”
So if you have a favorite moment from 30 Rock, you can select the show in the app, pick a recent episode and and browse dozens of images. Select the corresponding image, add a caption and share it abroad. It can be an actual quote from the show, or something funny. You can browse moments from your Quips friends inside the app — or see others that people have posted under your favorite shows. And leave comments, too.
For a company that helped forge the way on TV check-ins, it may be surprising to find no check-ins in the Quip experience. While IntoNow and Umami have used check-ins as a way to grab images from broadcast, the Quips images are pre-populated when you get there. “Quips was designed and developed as the best companion for on demand and time-shifted viewing,” Venkataramanin tells us, explaining that it takes a “few hours” for the images to appear after an East Coast airing. “Many would be ready for use by West Coast air time, and others will be populated shortly after.”
Beyond a loose association with Pinterest, it’s interesting to note Quips is somewhat related to Tumblr’s famous animated gifs — there are many a Tumblr with TV show moments put to funny captions. Miso has made it a standalone experience in an app, tied to Facebook and Twitter sharing — but without the animated gifs (at least for now).
So what does all this mean for Miso’s core app? In a story posted earlier today, TechCrunch called it a “pivot” for the startup. But not so — at least not yet. “We have no plans to take down Miso’s current product (SideShows) as we are still learning a great deal from it,” Venkataramanin told Lost Remote. “We not only have loyal fans on our SideShows product, but SideShows has been a great learning platform for us in creating Quips.”