New ‘Centric’ App Enables Location-Based Searches For Nearby YouTube, Twitter Videos

A recently-launched app called Centric, which bills itself as the “Tinder of social video,” aims to help users discover different videos that are being shared within their immediate geographic locations. Centric, which is currently available on iOS devices, shows users a collective stream of videos being uploaded to YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope within a radius extending up to 22 miles. Users can also adjust to a smaller area, and the company said it plans to integrate more video platforms as it expands.

The app is the creation of Scottish entrepreneur Vincent Gibson, who said in a statement that “the ability to discover random nearby content is something that’s missing in many top applications. We’re confident that our users will enjoy the surprising and interesting things they find around them which, in an algorithm and follower-based stream, would never be seen.”

Centric says it could be useful for discovery of video uploads happening at a specific event, such as CES or Coachella, for instance, and also satiates a bit of a voyeuristic appetite, enabling viewers to browse nearby videos anonymously, and then click through to the full YouTube, Twitter, or Periscope profile of the uploader if they so wish.

And Centric has recently tapped a rather bold-faced adviser to join its team in the form of Bonin Bough, the former chief media and eCommerce officer at Mondelēz International, which owns a slew of food brands, including Cadbury, Dentyne, Oreo, and Ritz. Bough departed Mondelez earlier this month, and has joined Centric’s leadership team in an advisory role, according to the company, where he will help cull potential partners and investors.

“For the first time, someone has created an app that combines the instant relevance of location with the massive demand for video content and a supply of that content from multiple sources,” Bough said in a statement. Bough also serves as host of the new CNBC show Cleveland Hustles, an entrepreneurial reality show executive produced by LeBron James.