Webware

Each month, I get a fun little e-mail from Nielsen/NetRatings, the online division of the big-name metrics firm, with some tracking numbers for unique visitors at social media sites--namely, social networks, blogs, and video-sharing sites. They're pretty anecdotal as far as traffic metrics go, but it's still fun to see who's losing and who's gaining--you know, like sports. And each month, I eagerly open the e-mail (no, really) to see if there are any juicy surprises in store. This month's version, which includes numbers for August (percentage growth from August 2006 to August 2007, is sadly low on the juiciness factor. The numbers largely aren't that different from July's.

First, here's the social network lineup. In short: Facebook's growing fast, but LinkedIn is growing faster. MySpace is growing, but not as fast. AOL's social networks are suffering. Music site Buzznet is riding the early adopter wave, and the Disney-acquired kids' social network Club Penguin hasn't run out of momentum yet. Classmates' growth has slowed a bit, perhaps as the gossip about its potential IPO wanes. All in all, these numbers are almost identical to July's, with no new entrants on the list whatsoever.

Next month may prove to be more interesting for Facebook, to see if there is a spike in September growth as new university students enroll for the site (which started, as you probably recall, as an online replacement for college heralds). Will it grow at an even faster pace than we're already seeing, or are enough high schoolers using Facebook so that they already have accounts when they arrive on campus? In either case, we'll probably see more use of the site now that the school year has started anyway. As any member of the "Facebook generation" could tell you, it's a great time-suck, especially when there's a paper due the next day.

The "top blogs" list continues to bizarrely index blogging platforms like Xanga and Blogger alongside media titles like TMZ.com and Perez Hilton. It would be much easier if these were differentiated into separate categories, but I suppose we'll have to settle for the combined list for now. Like the social-networking numbers, the blog numbers haven't changed much: Google's Blogger is still on top, WordPress is still growing really fast, Xanga continues to shrink, and celebrity gossip still dominates the blogosphere. Geek staples Gizmodo and Engadget have dropped off the list, maybe because August was a quieter month for iPhone news than July had been; we'll see if they jump back up in this month's numbers when those come out.

On the video-sharing rankings, Atom Films has replaced Funny or Die in the bottom notch, and Veoh and Yahoo Video continue to grow much faster than YouTube, whose growth has slowed a bit (81 percent in July's numbers down to 66 percent in August's). It looks as if MySpace's video market share is shrinking, but interestingly enough, it is still using the vids.myspace.com domain for tracking rather than MySpaceTV.com, which launched this summer. Google Video's growth is slowing (down from a 69 percent growth rate in July), perhaps because its parent company has pulled it out of the spotlight in favor of its YouTube purchase.

We'll have to see when the September numbers come out next month if social media patterns have changed along with the season.

BlogTV is a new livestreaming service that's been making a splash at the Supernova conference here in San Francisco. It's the latest in several live broadcasting services that have popped up, including uStream.TV, Veodia, Mogulus, and Stickam. Like some of its competitors, BlogTV is combining live video and chat in one window, along with a way to embed the entire module on your blog or Web site. It also lets content creators team up with two Webcams at once, a solution that opens up the service for co-hosts, live interviews, or multilocation coverage.

The BlogTV interface is made up of three panes, with live video, chat, and a related videos playlist. To see it in action, click the read more link at the end of this post.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

BlogTV isn't just limited to live streams, though; users can record bits of their live broadcast and publish them in an archive. Like YouTube and other video services, users can then comment and rate clips, as well as mark them as favorites. There's also the option to subscribe to an author's channel to keep tabs on future content or see when he or she is broadcasting live. Content is split up into nine different "channels," and users have the options to sort through live and archived clips for each.

BlogTV's embeddable player isn't quite up to snuff compared with some of the other livestreaming players I've seen. While it does show you how many people are watching a program, the integrated chat is a one-way experience. You can see what others are typing, but you can't type back or see who is in the chat room. To participate, you need to venture off-site to the broadcast's page. That being said, BlogTV's chat experience is really well-done. Channel owners can give certain users operations privileges (akin to IRC), kick users, and users can chat privately with one another. There's also all sorts of emoticons and quick options to share with or invite friends to the broadcast.

BlogTV is currently relegated to your computer, although the team behind it is working on a mobile version. I'm expecting something along the lines of Kyte.TV and Veodia, although if there's one thing we've found in testing these services, mobile Webcasting can get a little tricky.

I've embedded a sample BlogTV livecasting module after the jump. Since I don't want to bore you with a CNET office cam (not to say me typing isn't exhilarating), I'm embedding a live broadcast of the Supernova conference from Nir Ofir, one of the founders of BlogTV.

SECOND UPDATE: Check the end of this post for some more information from Facebook and ViddYou.

I think most of the Web has reached the consensus that Facebook Platform, the social networking site's new initiative to open up its service to third-party companies' specially-designed applications, has been a resounding success. Anecdotally, I can say that "techy" people I know, who had originally dismissed Facebook as a glorified address book, are now starting to think that it has a whole lot more street cred. And I know some people who are more or less addicted to some of the new features (throw a sheep at me, will ya?)

But whispers have been spreading that perhaps Facebook--generally known for being methodical and well-organized, choosing to roll out features incrementally rather than going for huge revamps--might not have predicted just how popular the new Platform would be, and wasn't ready for the onslaught of bandwidth activity. Yesterday, there were some rumors going around that Facebook had had to sell a full 10 percent of its shares in order to purchase enough hardware to handle its rapid user increase. Looks like the original story was reported on the Web site of the U.K. newspaper The Times and was then pulled. (Conspiracy theorists may point out the fact that The Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which also owns Facebook's chief rival MySpace. Personally, I think it's more likely just a case of some reporting that turned out to be based on unsubstantiated rumor.)

If true, basically, it would indicate that Facebook, often singled out as a red-hot potential acquisition target, wasn't as financially stable as the tech community would have thought. Tough to believe, since we've had every indication that the company is extremely well-funded, financially efficient, and has pulled in adequate advertising revenues. So, like most others following the social networking scene, I dismissed it as speculative gossip.

And I still think the original claims in The Times were untrue, but some more concrete signs have indeed indicated that Facebook wasn't fully ready for the whirlwind success of the Platform. While logged onto Facebook this morning in an attempt to engage in a SuperPoke war with one of my friends, I saw this:

(Credit: Facebook)

Editor's note: This post has been updated from first publish. See note below for more.

This morning Justin.TV has relaunched itself as a live video platform. The site is planning to enable video livecasters to build out their own video broadcasting page, complete with a custom URL, branding, and chat room. Unlike uStream.TV, which has made similar functionality available to anyone and everyone for several months now, the initial crop of broadcasters who want to use the platform will be handpicked by Justin Kan and crew. Eventually it will be opened up to anyone.

For viewers, Justin.TV has added an interesting new feature to sort through archived clips. Called "tips," users can now vote on and add their own favorite moments of Justin.TV. Other users can vote up the clips, which gets its own top 10 section on the front page. This tipping functionality has been built into the Justin.TV flash video player in the form of a "tips" button, which will automatically spit out a URL to share with others, along with embed code to put it on blogs, Web sites, and social networking profiles. The goal is to make Justin.TV content more accessible and easier to sort through.

Justin.TV now features a top 10 most popular clips listing, along with a way to archive and share live clips with others...that is if Justin wakes up.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Another addition to Justin.TV is the new archive viewer, which shows up as a calendar where users can input the date and time of previous Justin.TV videos. They had actually rolled out this functionality earlier in the month, although it wasn't as well integrated with the live video. Finding old clips wasn't working so well when I tried it earlier this morning, but I assume they'll iron out the kinks as the day goes on.

Maybe the funniest part of this relaunch is that Justin was fast asleep well into this morning. Not to belittle Kan's dedication (the site has been going strong for more than two months now), but nearly every time we cover new and upcoming social sites, developers and site creators are glued to their screens on opening day--interacting with existing users and those checking out the site for the very first time. If this had been my first time visiting the site, I likely wouldn't have come back.

Update: Justin.TV's producer Michael Seibel dropped us a line, and wanted to note: "...we are building a platform for live video online and not a video blogging tool. In addition, we are opening up our network in the near future and right now we are selecting participants so we can slowly scale up our network." This post has since been edited to reflect those changes. - Josh

[via TechCrunch]

It seems like the current Web 2.0 boomtown (figuratively speaking) is in broadcast tools that allow you to bring your self-programmability a few steps above the YouTube + 20-dollar webcam norm. We've seen Kyte.tv recently, which allows you to create your own live vlogging stream--a phenomenon that certainly got a boost from the popularity of Justin.tv. I recently heard about another emerging player in the business, Veodia, which appears to be catering to a slightly more highbrow breed of video blogger.

Veodia promises that it'll allow you to create professional-quality video in "one click," eliminating the process of capturing, encoding, uploading, streaming, and the like. As a result, you can broadcast it live or opt to serve it up on-demand. You can instantly create an RSS feed to syndicate to a podcast download service like iTunes. You're also allowed to retain control and ownership rights to the videos you create--and the company assures it won't downgrade the quality as many "consumer" video-sharing sites do.

Right now, it's in a limited beta and appears to be free of charge, though something like this (in the manner of Adobe Lightroom) will almost certainly become pricey once it's in its full version.

Additionally, Veodia is primarily banking on use by professional clients, as evidenced by its recently-announced involvement with the developer network for online conferencing service WebEx's WebEx Connect platform. But when I spoke briefly with company representatives, they stressed that Veodia is also relevant to "professional" bloggers and video podcasters. (Which means it's a little too high-end for your cat videos.)

The beta version of Veodia is still limited: you can only have 100 simultaneous viewers, for example, and there are bandwidth and storage caps. Broadcasters need to be running Internet Explorer on Windows XP, though apparently Mac and Vista compatibility is in the works. This MacBook user, as a result, is shut out. Any video bloggers out there want to take the beta for a spin? I'd be curious to know what the actual process is like.

We got the tip today about a brand new service called Bubble Guru. Its goal is simple: to give your blog or Web site visitors a short pop-up video message that runs and closes without any user interaction required. You can also record and send message to friends via e-mail. For viewers, there's no escape--the talking bubble will follow them as they scroll down the page.

Annoying and obtrusive, yet compelling

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The service is by no means a full-fledged video blogging tool; it falls into a strange subcategory between video messaging and a pop-up advertisement. It's also a little early in development, offering no way to save and track the messages you've created. For now the service is free, but a paid subscription version is on the way for about $10 a month.

We thought long and hard about the usefulness of this for the casual user. In truth, video embedding services from YouTube or Viddler is much more user friendly. Users can turn those videos on and off at their discretion and pass any interesting ones along to a friend. That, however, isn't the point of Bubble Guru. This service is all about grabbing your attention, which it does very well. We've embedded one for you: to see what it looks like, click "read more" below.

Vlogging social network Vlip launched this morning, providing users with a way to record and share video messages with others using their Webcams. Vlip has incorporated a system similar to YouTube's, allowing Vlip users to post a video response to another user's video. Both the video and its responses can be viewed from embedded Vlip clips on social networking profiles, blogs, and Web sites (similar to the dynamically updating embeds on SplashCast and Searchles.) Posting and browsing the site requires no registration.

What's also neat is the ability to add a response from any embed on other sites, which lets users reply without having to navigate off whatever site they were visiting before.

See also Viddler and Gabjam.

In my opinion, there's been a tad bit of a YouTube backlash recently, as evidenced by the number of video start-ups that have been stressing their commitment to professionally created content. In other words, no cat videos. (Isn't it funny how "cat videos" has become synonymous with "amateur YouTube content?") For example, there's MediaZone, which we wrote up earlier today. But here's another video start-up, Dave.tv, that's trying to help amateurs organize and present their video creations in a slicker way.

No, the CEO is not named Dave; rather, he goes by Rex Wong. "Dave" stands for "Distributed Audio Video Entertainment," and Dave.tv is a product of Dave Networks, which creates "your own YouTube or MySpace around your own brand," according to Wong, who presented the product at the AlwaysOn media conference in NYC yesterday. In order to describe Dave Networks' business model, Wong demonstrated a site that the company had created for the science-fiction TV show Stargate where not only could the creators share information and video clips, but users could upload their own fan-fiction videos and partake in social networking features. (Sci-fi fan videos are a big deal. Just ask CNET's Rich DeMuro.)

But, like MediaZone, Dave Networks is expanding beyond its corporate clientele to try to grab a slice of the user-generated video pie. This is where Dave.tv comes in. Billing itself as a "social broadcast network," it allows individuals to create their own channels and then easily work them into blogs or MySpace profiles. A Dave.tv channel is not as functional as a full-blown Dave Networks channel, nor is the interface the cleanest, but this is a new product so I'm hesitant to judge. The company looks like it's had some decent success with big-media clients--let's see if they can do the same with user-generated content. Because, after all, organization might just be YouTube's Achilles heel. For a standalone video, it's great. But putting everything you've created into one place? You might want to try some alternatives.