Talkshow is an interesting new app for iPhone and iPad that lets friends text in public. Imagine if you could let spectators view your best iMessage conversations in real time, or if you could share/embed those conversations on the web. That’s what Talkshow is.

In an introductory post on Medium, Michael Sippey (former VP of Product at Twitter) explains the reasoning behind Talkshow:

Conversations are how we entertain each other and advance ideas, and messaging is how most of us have conversations today. We believe a fast, simple and uncluttered conversation between friends can be entertaining and enlightening for more than just the people talking. So, Talkshow is about turning messaging into media. That’s why we call it “texting in public.”

Once you’ve started a new conversation — or “show”, as they call it — you can invite others to be “co-hosts”. Others can also invite you to co-host any of their shows. As you’d expect, you can insert gifs and images just like a real text conversation.

Spectators can choose to follow shows they particularly like, and they can add reactions to the show as a whole, or to individual messages within. They can even request to become a cohost. Shows can also be embedded in full online — viewable by anyone whether or not they’re on Talkshow — or you can simply share a show’s public link.

Talkshow is free on the iOS App Store.