Video sharing apps like
Viddy and
Socialcam are seeing
spikes in usage, indicating consumer interest in augmenting their digital photography with more animated means of documenting their lives. Of course, since no one app is firmly established as a true frontrunner, competition in the space remains fierce. Stay tuned to see which one Facebook inevitably snatches up.
Ptch: Smartphone usage is accelerating—
particularly among teens—and more people are jumping into the director’s chair via their devices’ video features. There’s no shortage of platforms on which to share their work but, unless one has hours to spend with Final Cut Pro, simple tools with which to transform video footage into something worth sharing are elusive. Enter
Ptch,
a Dreamworks-backed iOS app that gives even the most inexperienced videographers a foolproof way to edit and produce one-minute mini-movies directly in their phones. Title cards, soundtrack suggestions, and the ability to receive feedback from social networks round out this ultra mobile video studio.
Keek: The explosive growth of Viddy and Socialcam is due in part to their positioning as enhancement tools for already popular social media platforms, but
Keek is taking a different approach. The new platform is engendering engagement by positioning itself as its own unique network. The mobile app borrows features from social media titans, including topic-related “Klusters” and the ability to earn “kred” (a personality profile based on other members’ feedback). The strategy seems to be working: not only has it acquired a user base comprised primarily of the coveted Gen Y/Z demo but it also just
secured $7 million in funding.
Broadcast for Friends: Broadcast for Friends is a mobile app, created by popular lifestreaming service
Ustream, which allows users to broadcast
on their Facebook Timelines live footage as it is recorded on their mobile phones in real-time. There is no time limit, and Instagram-like filters can be applied to correct the lighting or complement the mood of the event. While the FOMO-minded app is positioned as a tool that caters to Gen Y’s
Real Time Reflex (
The Cassandra Report, Fall 2010), the fact that it also allows users to save the recording for later on-demand viewing suggests that the importance of personal archives is not languishing.
