Hindsight Edition:TOUT..WWE May Have Been On To Something

Back in the summer of 2012 WWE made an investment in a upstart social media company called Tout. Tout was a platform that allowed users to upload 15 second clips, of whatever they wanted to talk about. During this time Facebook and twitter were the kings of the social media world. Instagram was popular, but hadn't quite taken off just yet. Snapchat was gaining popularity amongst the younger generation. Another micro-video site vine hadn't launched yet.

WWE thought Tout could be the next big thing in the social media. They threw a massive amount of support behind the platform. Showing clips of fans "touting" about recent WWE happenings, and having wrestlers do their own videos. The platform was used to advance a story that Brock Lesnar was leaving the WWE. All that effort by the WWE and it didn't catch on, with the two companies splitting ways in 2014.

Many have proclaimed the WWE Tout experiment a failure, but looking back and where social media is now. They were a bit ahead of the curve as far as videos for social media use. In the time since the popularity and increased of video on other social media sites have exploded. Especially short videos that are designed to quickly hold your attention.

 Instagram essentially pushes the use of "reels", so much the algorithm doesn't promote standard posts as much anymore. Parent company Facebook does the same with reels, just doesn't force it as much. YouTube has "shorts". Snapchat has it, as well as Twitter (refuse to call it X). 

Storylines and promos have been advanced through social media reels. And it's widely appreciated and accepted today. Maybe the technology just wasn't where it needed to be for tout to be embraced, or the audience that would embrace the most weren't old enough yet. The WWE was on to something when they made the investment, the timing just wasn't right. For that I say they were a bit ahead of the curve.