TatangoTV - Who's Watching?

Last week, Rob Lewis asked "Stupid or Clever marketing idea?" about Bellingham-based Tatango's new TatangoTV . Well, after a few days on screen, I'd have to say that the social experiment is certainly going Tatango's way, despite the rather lackluster footage. TatangoTV features a 24/7 live stream of their office care of UStream, with cameras on the CEO Derek Johnson's office, the 'Bullpen,' the conference room, and the basketball hoop in the former reception area. At the very least, it has been a great public relations move for Tatango because TatangoTV is generating a lot of publicity across the web. What do you think - is it a gimmick or a smart move?

Johnson's take on it is simple:

"So why broadcast everything 24/7 and let the whole world watch us? Why the hell not! If people want to watch us, let them watch us. I think we have a pretty cool story to tell with our startup, and what better way to tell that story then to watch it play out in real time, live over the internet."

Admittedly, they're getting a bit of flak for the less-than-thrilling footage so far - Mashable cheekily noted that if Tatango puts some work into making it interesting, "[i]t could essentially be like a very geeky Big Brother, sans the relationship drama, manipulation, and night vision cameras." The start-up life is seldom glamorous, and this livestream is no exception to that rule. The highlight while I was watching was Derek groaning in frustration while squinting closely at his monitor, while his sister played a riveting game of Wii baseball.