Start-up prints your Twitter feed on toilet paper

The next time you want to check Twitter when you’re in the bathroom, you might not even need to bring your smartphone with you.

An entertainment start-up known as Collector’s Edition launched a new product that takes your Twitter feed and for $35 prints it on four rolls of toilet paper.

The product began taking orders Wednesday, and already, the first batch of printings have sold out, said David Gillespie, one of the start-up’s founders.

Customers can print their Twitter feeds, their timelines, their favorite tweets, or even decide to print others’ feeds. And if anyone is interested in larger orders, the start-up is all ears.

“There’s almost no money to be made in custom printing of toilet paper,� he said. “But if we make people smile, then we feel good; we feel we’ve done our job.�

The goal of Collector’s Edition is to find unique ways to entertain people. Collector’s Edition’s first project came last month when it created a “digital shrine� to the word ‘mate’ on Tumblr with a series of videos on how the word can be used.

Gillespie said the idea for the toilet-paper product -- the scatologically based name of which we can’t repeat here -- came about a year ago or so when he was trying to think of projects for Collector’s Edition. As he sat at his desk thinking, it suddenly came to him and he rushed over to tell his friend.

“Twitter and toilet paper ... ,� Gillespie said he told his friend. They had a laugh and just brushed off the idea, but it kept coming back to him. “There’s something there,� he thought.

So the crew behind the product, which is made up of three Australians and a Canadian, decided to look for someone who could print the product. They looked in all parts of the world and finally settled on a company in Illinois, meaning the product is 100% made in the U.S., Gillespie said proudly.

The four people behind the product are scattered throughout New York, where Gillespie is located, Toronto and Sydney. And while the product has had quick success, none of them has plans to quit their day jobs quite yet, Gillespie said.

The first customers can expect to receive their products by the end of next week, Gillespie said.

When asked if he and the rest of the team had printed their own Twitter feeds, Gillespie admitted, “we did a few test runs while we were developing it.�

“The rule in start-ups is you gotta chew your own dog food, so if you wanna use that analogy, we’ve certainly been chowing down,� he said.

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Original source: Turn your tweets into toilet paper with new start-up