Tubetrail does not depend solely on Active Sharing to figure out what you're watching. Instead you have to install a small browser extension (currently Firefox only) which keeps an eye on your viewing habits. Videos you've watched are then presented as embeds on a large, colorful grid where your friends can go and watch what you've been viewing in reverse chronological order.
As an added benefit, you can add a special comment that will only show up on your Tubetrail page, and not as a user comment on the YouTube video page. These show up underneath the videos, and are denoted with a large exclamation point on the grid.
The service has two weaknesses, which I think if addressed would make it more compelling than YouTube's offering. One of those would be to create an RSS feed out of items you've watched, which would let others view your picks, and see your comments from someplace other than your Tubetrail page. Second, if I'm going to install an extension that provides little utility outside of YouTube's built-in sharing tool, have it work on YouTube videos that are embedded off YouTube's site--something which is not currently offered.
Tubetrailing turns YouTube watching habits into a giant grid that can be surfed off YouTube's own pages.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
The names of any other YouTube users who are watching show up next to the video clip.
(Credit: CNET Networks)YouTube has added a new feature to its TestTube section as of last night, called Active Sharing. With this feature enabled, YouTube will keep track of videos you watch, for both archiving and real-time interaction with other users. If you're watching a video with other Active Sharing-enabled users, you'll be able to see their names with a little green dot next to it to signify they're watching too. Clicking on someone's profile name will show you the last five shows they've watched using the service.
Active Sharing joins the other TestTube projects, Audio Swap [hands-on] and Streams, the latter of which is a souped-up version of this new sharing feature, allowing users to actually chat and interact with each other while viewing videos at the same time. I'd wager to bet Active Sharing is the groundwork for an integrated social bookmarking service being built within YouTube to extend some of these new community features, placing more emphasis on what users are doing at any given time, in a similar fashion to what's been going on over at Digg with some of their visualization projects.
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