This weekend, I tried out Seesmic and YLive! with my brand new Microsoft Life cam (nothing fancy but it works - and it’s the best they had at The Source). Some are calling this “life streaming” (AKA streaming chat).
YLive! is Yahoo’s newborn addition to streaming video. Though it’s still in the “experimental” stage, it worked very well with little delay. I think it’s VERY cool but have some fairly serious issues with the privacy and user controls (see below). At this moment, it seems a popular tool for DJ’s - who may well come to define what and who Ylive is for - as MySpace did for musicians. I’m currently enjoying some beats from the very talented DJ Bran.
That said, there were a lot of other folks present this weekend. Among them, fellow bloggers, technologists and web publishers - I got to see a LIVE LOL Cat and I also had the opportunity to chat with the publisher of Giantrobot - who was also there for his own first time experience. I was lucky enough to find people I knew via Twitter - but otherwise there’s no search function. Not yet (give them time).
YLive: Just for boys?
As excited as I am about the possibilities of YLive, I think the site leaves a lot to be desired in relation to privacy and user controls. Right now, it’s all mostly guys in there - guess why? Because women need privacy settings. And unless they want this to be a boy’s only clubhouse, they’d better think about the very different needs of women online. Safety chief among them. I’m not feeling that, Ylive.
Currently, you have the choice of being public (your channel appears on the main page) or less public (your channel will not appear on the main page but those with your URL can access - and that means anybody who is viewing a channel with you). You cannot create a private, invite only channel.
Also, the site takes a “snapshot” of you while you’re streaming. These images accompany your profile and serve to identify you to the world. And you cannot delete those images. That’s a HUGE safety issue for me as a woman user. And BTW - they don’t tell you this is going to happen (bad bad).
YLive! team: if you’re reading this, please attend to these issues ASAP or you will significantly limit the number of users who are attracted to your site (half the population, to be exact).
Seesmic
I was also delighted to receive my invite code to try Blogtrepeneur LoicLeMeur ’s much hyped Seesmic. Unlike YLive, Seesmic is still invite only, which is sort of a good thing for those of us who are still unsure about what we’re doing. Also, I found it to be more adult. The first time “life streams” I watched were quite reflexive and contemplative. Quite a different experience than YLive.
Like YLive, Seesmic allows you to record and capture video and share on your personal channel. Unlike YLive! The experience is not live streaming but recorded. And like YLive, I don’t yet have the privacy settings I’d like (but I’m more forgiving of this service because they don’t have the gazillions of dollars and capacity of a Yahoo so they’re welcome to all the babysteps they like).
I’m not sure how I’ll use either service but I know that I WILL use them both - quite happily - if they’ll give me the privacy and user controls I want. For now, I’ll lurk (and selectively broadcast among friends).
Eyejot [added: 02.12]
Last night I received the first comment on this post. It was from Eyejot founder David Geller, informing me (and you) of his video emailing product.
While I wouldn’t normally A) publish, B) respond to or C) blog about what might otherwise be contextualised as comment spam, Geller won my interest and exploration of his product by taking a personalised approach (something Seth Godin recently advocates in his recent post “small is the new big“). Not only did Geller take the time to read and respond to my post but he sent me a personalised video email in which he talks to me directly and cites my post! I was genuinely impressed.
So what is Eyejot? Here’s a good description from Mashable:
Having just set up my Eyejot account, I intend to use it when I am camera ready and have something to say. I see immediate benefits for messages or topics that require a little more expression.
Twittery thanks to: Robin Good, EJ Flavors and everybody else who helped me negotiate this confusing new territory.
Dear reader: have you tried out either of these services? What do you like so far? Can you think of some novel uses? What sorts of features/settings would you like to have?
Melanie - Great post! For private video mail, have you tried Eyejot? We’re servicing a different sector than YLive! or Seesmic and striving to provide a means of creating and sending private video for friends, family and businesses. But, we’ve also strived to create some innovative social tools around video such as our new “Eyejot This!” feature, which is a bookmarklet that makes web site annotating and linking very interesting (and natural) - with built-in support for posting to twitter.
I’d invite you to try Eyejot at http://eyejot.com as it’s very easy to start using.
I suspect you’ll find that there are a bunch of interesting and innovative tools out there all serving slightly different but, often, complimentary services. I hope you discover and find Eyejot to be one of them.
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Interesting that Yahoo would ignore the privacy needs of women users in YLive, since I’m told they put a lot of effort into the same issues with at least one other product, Yahoo Personals.
Or do they assume that camgirls will be camgirls?
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Thanks David!
I’m really enjoying Eyejot so far. Especially the fact that I can DELETE things! And that I get to choose who I send them to. Again, the kinds of choices/options users should have. It’s a nice clean interface and easy to use.
Thanks Prentiss!
You know, it’s not that I think they’re consciously ignoring women’s needs but this is simply symptomatic of a general lack of regard for user controls and privacy. These settings are especially concerning for women users - in relation to our safety. Judging from the demographics using YLive right now, there’s a lot of raw macho energy in there - and some aggressive types. This is not a comfortable space for women. I like that you mentioned Yahoo Personals - they should simply review the kinds of settings they offer on these other services and bring them in.
I don’t want to be treated like a “camgirl” simply because I am a woman and I wish to participate in live discussion. Sadly, many women are subjected to the worst sort of behaviours when they make the choice to take part in streaming. There seems to be some sexist logic there: “if you’re here, then you must be looking for action.”
No, women just want to take part in discussion, meet friends, share their thoughts and be able to choose who gets to drop in to their broadcast space.
I’m not interested in continuing a conversation with my friends when a guy called GETMESOMEBEWTY stops by to check out our channel and “hang “with us (it happened). No thank you.
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