GodTube hopes switch to Tangle will broaden appeal

|PIC1|Christian video and social networking site GodTube.com has changed its name and purpose.

The popular website is now called Tangle.com and is no longer catering only towards Christians, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Tangle.com's new aim is to be a "family-friendly" social networking site, according to CEO Jason Illian, who replaced GodTube's first CEO Chris Wyatt last year.

"We think that's a pretty big space that nobody's really playing in," Illian told the Dallas Morning News.

"The old name 'GodTube' was a little polarising. We wanted a name that was more encompassing," he said. "We don't shy away from our faith-based community, but we wanted to expand that."

The CEO insisted that Tangle.com still retains "Christian underpinnings" without promoting any specific theology.

The new move will expand its advertising base and boost profits for the Internet site, which has two million monthly visitors. Objectionable images and text will be screened out from the ads to keep with the family-friendly content.

According to the FAQ section on the new site, Tangle is a global technology company that creates social networking tools for the faith-based and family friendly marketplace.

"Tangle is a place where all users including Individuals, groups, churches, ministries and bands, among others, can come to connect and share their faith and lives through videos, photos, blogs, prayers, music and more," the website reads.

Instead of a statement of faith, Tangle has a statement of belief that mixes in faith with secular interests.

"So what do we believe? We believe in Jesus. We believe in the Bible. We believe God still works at Harley rallies and tea parties, Mary Kay conventions and Oktoberfest, Wimbledon and the World Cup, county fairs and national elections, in public schools and our private lives, in bowling alleys and alley ways," says Tangle.com.

It adds, "Get tangled up in videos, podcasts, discussions, Bible studies and anything else that makes you come alive."

The site also has a new, light green color scheme, and Illian promised that the next months would see the rolling out of various innovations to help individuals and groups connect.

GodTube was started in Spring 2007 by Wyatt and Mike Miller, CEO of NavPress and former executive pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas. The website was officially launched a couple of months later, marketed as the evangelical Christian version of YouTube. In May 2008, the company announced it had raised $30 million in new financing from a London-based investment firm GLG Partners.