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

What makes a good #lifecaster?

Operating as a 1 woman camera crew in 2008. That's the web cam, attached to a netbook, which ran off of a sprint air card. Awkward situations not included.I've been racking my brain all day trying to figure out if there is such a thing as a "perfect lifecaster." I have 3 people I already know I want to come on board to lifecast, just because I know I find them to be great storytellers and incredibly interesting people overall ... but there is no formula for this type of shit yet. Which is kinda awesome ... gives you room to play. MTV's Real World pretty much solidified the reality TV stereotypes ... "the hot chick, the dumb jock, the thoughtful one, the class act, the gay one, and the two that always ended up dating for the entire season." But what the hell makes a good lifecaster? It's definitely not something everyone can do. I've tested that theory, it's just not pretty. 

First off, I've just been thinking about what the hell is a lifecaster? The best definition I could come up with is someone who dictates their life across the workable elements of social media. That's my standard definition when people ask me what I do. At any given moment, you can find out what I'm watching (via @gomiso), where I am (via FourSquare), what I'm listening to (via pandora), what I'm thinking (via twitter) ... and be told the entire story combing all of those elements via this loverly little website. 

I tell good stories. No joke, I've been waiting for something like this to happen my entire life. A lot of weird, crazy, random shit happens to me. For reals!!! I've been like this little magnet forever and a day for interesting situations to just be attracted to. Total awesome sauce! But just having interesting things happen to me doesn't make a good lifecaster. You have to be able to tell the story. 

In reality TV you have producers, editors, directors, a whole SLLEEWWW of people behind the scenes that watch what you do and figure out a way to tell the story with the footage they've captured. Lifecasters have to be able to tell the story in real time as it is happening in 140 characters, followed up with either a video or blog post after. It's night and day. I think eventually this art form will have producers, directors, and whatever else ... but we're currently in the trenches. So, we've got to figure this shit out for ourselves. 

I'm totally figuring this out today, so if you guys have any ideas on what makes a lot of this interesting, and what doesn't I'm totally game to hear it. I need to write up these guidelines to give the lifecasters before they officially begin ... and I'm kinda just stuck. 

Tweet me: @JenFriel or Facebook my butt: Facebook.com/jenfriel

Thanks in advance!! xoxo