Checkthis: Instagram For Social Publishing

Checkthis is a site that allows users to create visually appealing one-off and single-purpose web content, created with the hopes of finding a middle ground between people who desire to publish more than just comments on social media sites, but who don’t post frequently enough to desire starting a blog. It’s also a useful tool to provide invites to events, sell concert tickets, or advertise a new release.

Checkthis is ridiculously simple and easy to use. It provides four templates to fit different purposes, aptly named “Tell,” “Sell,” “Ask,” and “Invite.” Each template lists a different series of options and areas to fill in. Beyond it’s simplicity and functionality, some of the more appealing aspects about CheckThis include the fact that you don't have to register for anything, that it's totally free, and that it doesn't require you to log in with Facebook or Twitter unless you want to.

Recently, the Belgian startup announced the launch of their public beta, seed funding of $910,000 (led by Lerer Ventures), and an impressive list of advisors including Tim Van Damme of Instagram, François de Halleux of Google, and Robin Wauters of The Next Web.

“There are numerous ways to quickly share a status update, set up a blog, or create your own website,” said Frédéric della Faille, founder and CEO. “But there remain significant barriers to entry and inherent constraints with most services that Checkthis aims to remove. Photo sharing on the web was supposed to be a solved problem as well, and then Instagram came along and garnered dozens of millions of users with a beautiful, innovative product that removed a lot of the friction that was still involved. Our goal is to do the same in the social publishing space.”

Since its launch in October of 2011, the site has seen the creation of 4,000 pages per month with the only marketing being word of mouth among users.

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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud