Anybody can come up with a good idea— or something funny to say.
You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to cook up a good idea or invention, something that will resonate with people or even change their lives.
And you don’t have to be Chris Rock or Sarah Silverman to be funny.
Just think about that guy or gal you met at that dinner party and how they kept everyone in stitches for the whole evening. Had you ever heard of them before that night? Would you like to hear from them again?
And what about the musical hopefuls among your friends and family? We all know someone whose passion for performance is nearly on par with Taylor Swift or Jay-Z. So they might not have the recording contract or the limousine. But they are dreaming big—and sometimes that’s all you need.
The missing piece of this puzzle is Tonto, a short-form audio platform and app where users can post audio, and post comments on that audio. Tonto can feature everything from funny soundbites generated by friends and strangers to new, uncut music clips; news reports from the field generated by established media outlets; and random audio missives.
How about using Tonto as a quick communication tool, by sending voice notes?
Tonto CEO and Founder Manna Justin is reimagining the short-form content model by looking far beyond the status quo of Twitter and TikTok. Long-form platforms like SoundCloud are fine if you’re looking for long-form audio. But who can afford all that time while keeping up with the rapid pace of the digital age?
Manna with Tonto is stepping in to fill a void left by the status quo. He has created a platform ideal for creating content in the moment, without equipment and without any overthinking. Tonto revolves around spur-of-the-moment magic generated simply for the sheer joy of public consumption and comment.
In the process, he is revolutionizing how we listen to short-form audio.
“It’s as simple as this—contrary to popular belief, to be a creator, you don’t need very much, you just need a mobile phone and our app,” Manna said.
“You can record something and publish it right away. There’s no need for recording equipment; no need to produce a podcast; no need to edit anything. Tonto captures the life we are living in the here and the now. Capture short-form audio with Tonto, share it, and watch it take on a life of its own.”
Tonto is a platform to showcase what people are thinking about in the moment. There’s no need to ponder anything—just open up your Tonto app and have at it.
“Do you want to say something funny? Do you want to sing a few bars of a popular song—or a song you wrote?” Manna asked. “All you have to do is take your phone out and hit the record button. Go ahead and add a few hashtags so people can discover it easily.”
Certainly, creators of long-form content are welcome to post on Tonto as well. And YouTubers can upload a video, strip the video out of the file and leave the audio remaining as it was meant to be heard—on Tonto.
Through a repositioning of short-form audio and social media at large, Tonto has become a point of view, a reference point, a vision, a strategy, a way of thinking rather than simply acting the same old way over and over again.
Tonto is also disrupting the way we enjoy storytelling.
Whether it’s your grandparent sharing family history or your pal telling you about their weekend, Tonto was made for storytelling. There’s also the major media outlets, all of whom now craft their video and audio storytelling for short-term presentation. Well, now it can be posted through audio only, which we all know enhances the story because we must let our imagination take over to generate our own video, in our minds.
And while Tonto allows comments to be posted anonymously, the platform also has mechanisms in place to flag and monitor anything that could be construed as abusive or inappropriate.
As for new developments, Tonto this spring will begin integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
“We know that Tonto is a perfect match for people who are traveling by car, to listen to it instead of the radio,” Manna said.
And what you will be listening to will be your fellow creators.
“The idea is that anybody can become a creator, because everybody has content to share, everybody has something to say,” Manna said. “We want this to be entertainment for the masses—that’s the whole idea behind Tonto.”
Visit gettonto.com to learn more. Tonto is available for download in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
