Mobli gains another celebrity endorser: Lance Armstrong

The real-time video, photo-sharing site looks toward celebrities for new usership boost

It seems like you can't have a promising young tech startup without a few celebrity investors. MySpace and Dekko have Justin Timberlake onboard, Lady Gaga has put millions into Turntable.fm and nearly a dozen companies such as Path, AirBnB, Fab.com, Foursquare and Flipboard have Ashton Kutcher touting their services.

And now, the video sharing website Mobli has added Lance Armstrong as a celebrity endorser of its services.

The famed Tour de France cyclist is joining the company’s board and starting his own Mobli channel, where the goal is to show life through another person’s eyes. 

Similar to YouTube, Mobli has users set up their own channels where they can post pictures and video of what they are seeing and what they love.

“When I was first introduced to Mobli, I immediately thought it was an extraordinary platform and an innovative yet accessible way for different audiences to share their stories,” said Armstrong in a statement. “I’m excited to use Mobli as a direct channel for my social media followers to get a personal look at my experiences day to day.”

Content can also be searched and viewed by categories such as food, sports, music, fashion, and more. Mobli would, ultimately, like people to have a "day-in-the-life" experience where they can see what public figures are doing behind the scenes. 

Back in October, Mobli welcomed Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor and advisor. Other celebrities that have already created channels on the service include Jaime King, Paris Hilton and David Arquette. 

Getting celebrities on a service is often a big driver of traffic, especially when they are active users that get fun, fresh content up there often. When you factor in that more than 18 million people follow Lady Gaga on Twitter and that the official White House YouTube channel has received more than 14 million views since it was created in 2009, the power of a public figure is great for online companies.

And other brands that endorse certain celebrities love when celebrities increase the possible exposure that their products can have -- in Armstrong's Mobli profile he is seen wearing a Nike shirt, a company he is endorsed by. What brand wouldn't like to see celebs wearing and using their products all over the Internet?

While celebrity endorsements aren't enough to mark the success of a tech startup, they do help build a buzz and a fellowship  -- but it takes a really strong concept and platform to really get longterm usership onboard. 

While Mobli has all of the elements of a great real-time look at the world, it may not diferentiate enough from already established companies like Instagram. The "Live" option does intregue me though, since you can click "Live" and see everything around the world that was uploaded that moment and where in the world they are when they uploaded the content. 

It may be several months before we see if Mobli was built to last or a novel blip but I recommend checking out some of the great shared content on there.