JibJab JokeBox

When I talked to JibJab Media’s Gregg Spiridellis last May, he promised that interactive and community-based initiatives were in the animation company’s future.

“The great thing about the Web is the fact that it’s a two way communication channel,” Gregg told me back then. “Most of our entertainment to date has been short form animated comedy and starting in the fall, we’ll be launching some initiatives that involve the audience in the creation of the productions. We’re just filing a patent on some of the technologies we’re developing.”

Could JibJab JokeBox, which the brothers Spiridellis discussed at the Entertainment Gathering conference, be what he was talking about?

If so, are we talking just text-based joke-sharing, or are they trying to get users to create and share animations themselves? Interesting prospect, but a big challenge, given all of the outlets currently available for users to share content.