Nerdy Thoughts on @Ustream #Facebook App

Alrite, so I'm sure you guys have heard by now that Ustream just created an epic Facebook app to help integrate their livestream into your Facebook like page.

Here ... watch this video, it explains.

Video streaming by Ustream

I love Ustream. First off, lemme preface this by saying I have ABSOLUTELY no affiliation what so ever with them; I started using them because I believed they had the greatest potential to add value to the TNTML brand. I'm not mad at Justin.TV, or even Livestream - but there was something about Ustream that just seemed sticky to me. I dug it. For sure.

(It was the same with Foursquare btw - I knew knew knew it was going to trump gowalla even though, let's face it - gowalla should have pwned them. Go figs! It's a gut thing. Not science.) 

I love love love using Ustream to livestream. Frankly, I wish I could physically do it more - but it is INCRREEDDIIBBLLYY draining for me to do all that I do on this site, AND be super bubbly and perky for a livestream. Which trust, I am organically ... haha I have so much energy, but yeah - I preserve it as much as possible and harness it directly in one place.

ALLLLLL this being said, I do have a couple problems with Ustream.

First off, their advertising model is complete shit. The best part about livestreaming is that it is instant - BAM you are live - RIGHT where the action is. Ustream plays ads for each user that can last as long as :30 seconds before each airing. Do you know how fucking lame that is if you're capturing something EPICCCCCCCC and every second counts. It just doesn't work!!!!! It doesn't work. It doesn't work.

Compound that with the fact that sometimes the ads get hung up, and the video doesn't display is just super lame.

You can buy ad free viewing, but it's pretty damn expensive especially for a little chickadee like me.

Here are their prices:

Also, after installing the Facebook app, I noticed that yes you can still "join the crowd" (which is the equivalent of following on twitter or liking on Facebook - it notifies you when the show is live) - but it sends you an actual email, not a Facebook email. Yes, you can share it on the wall - which is rad ... but email is so archaic. Do you really need to still have the crowd feature? Or why not integrate it into Facebook? Is it because of their message restrictions? Seems like total lame sauce if so.

I dunno, again - I'm not mad at it. I love love love when I go live from my Droid and can not only read the chat, but read the tweets from fans watching - dude, you can market and promote while simultaneously executing and engaging?!!?! Mind = blown.

But, Ustream still has a ways to go to figure out a more cohesive advertising model, IMHO. The :30 sec ads for real do NOT work, and only piss off fans of the show.

Can they do the YouTube mini banner ads at the bottom even? Just SOMETHING that gives people the option to click off of or something - don't take up the ENTIRE screen and leave people hanging when every SECOND counts livestreaming.

Ya know what I mean jellybean?

Oh and wanna know how you can enhance your livestreaming capabilities??? Check out the Owle Bubo. I use it, and I'm not even kidding you - it is totes the cats pajamas. They make it for the iphone, and it very literally saves my life. Dude, look - I even have a shotgun mic attachment now!!! THIS IS DONNNEE FROOMMM A PPHHHONNNEEEEE PEEOPPLLLEESS!!!!

This one I can attach to a grip that I can put in my car - so I can livestream while driving. Amazing considering I travel around so much. (Please note to do this, there are specific places it must be mounted in your car. Check your state's laws before doing something like this.)

and here's the back of 'em so you can see the phone just snaps into place ...

It's cool too because it circumvents a lot of legal issues; you can't bring a camera into a lot of places ... but with something like this, you snap your phone out of it and it's no longer a camera - it's just a fancy looking lense. HAHAHAAHA!!! Saved my bum so many times!!!! BAHHH!!!!!!

www.WantOwle.com

#kthxbye

#TNTML Update! We'ze Beez Changin!

Woahh!! The TNTML family chat on Facebook is like poppin off right now! We're throwing out some ideas for where we want TNTML to head. The mission statement on the About Us page, pretty much calls it out - I want lifecasters. I don't want to be your queen nerd, although flattered - I am just Jen ... and this is the nerdy shit that I do. HAHA!! I dig it, it also takes a LOT less stress off. You're just being! And it's AWESOME! Unapologetically of course ... hehehe

@BBWerner is a super bitchin web designer, and he's going to send me a mock up tonight ... but basically, we're going to start off with about 5 lifecasters (and thank YOU btw for all the emails ... holy crap, there is such a demand ... I'll figure out casting. But first priority is going to current staff.). I feel like any more than 5 can be a bit too impersonal, and any less you might not be able to find someone you can relate to. 5 just feels like a good number to me, but as anyone who has ever been on the casting side of the table knows, you don't really know what you're going to end up with. SOOO!!! Yeah!!!

We're going to transition from the single feed type site, and go into a bit more of a structured beast. Have a section for nerdy news, and features for like the Unkie Chuck Norris, Weird Al says WTF, all that fun stuff that you guys come here for. 

I'm pretty stoked. We've needed this for a while, but I'm just spread so thin ... I can't take on tasks like that and still pump out the content and manage all of the backend. Again, it's bittersweet - we're too big to be so small and too small to be too big. We've got a pretty happenin niche, but man oh man ... if it weren't for you guys, I don't know what I'd do. 

I'm super stoked!! @TaoBliss is helping with all the retagging to get our foundation back up! And I can't WAIT to see what @BBwerner has in store for us. Dude, he did all of our logos. This guy is SERIOUSLY talented!! 

Either way I'm pretty stoked, it's clearly not going to happen overnight ... but over the next couple of weeks or so, there will be more lifecasting from an array of interesting nerdy peeps, which is just a TOTAL dream come true for me. 

Stay tunnneedddddd!!! =) =) =) 

#NerdsUnite