visual proof of better video sharing through ffwd
Open Web Award blog partners response to our win over YouTube ranges from
- the quizzical
Of interest YouTube came second for video, how weird is that?
- to the thoughtful
- to outright enthusiasm
I think the controversy arises because it's difficult to imagine why the lifestream world needs better video sharing without seeing it. So I've compiled these screen shoots to illustrate the difference. I've used friendfeed because it is complimented for handling media (like videos) better than other lifestreams (uh yes, unpublicized feature ffwd can be integrated with freindfeed and soon Facebook), so the gap I'm about to show ffwd fills is even bigger with relation to a more barebones service like Twitter.
The actual lifestream entry...
without ffwd
with ffwd
ffwd advantages are: bigger thumbnail, title not prefaced by unnecessary source site information
These are cosmetic issues and I believe when you use friendfeed's bookmarklet the resulting post looks more like the ffwd post. However, there is something to mention about the bookmarklets that is illustrative of why you might need both: friendfeed's is for sharing anything to friendfeed, ffwd's is for sharing videos to anywhere. I use the ffwd bookmarklet to share a video simultaneously to friends-on-email and Twitter and Friendfeed and Facebook (not available outside of the labs yet). Whereas the Friendfeed bookmarklet is more about who you are sharing to namely your Friendfeed subscribers and the conversation with them, The ffwd bookmarklet about the videos I'm sharing and others watching them.
This focus on watching the videos recommended by a person is reflected in the UI. When you link through Twitter to a video on YouTube, you reach a page like this:
Whereas the page you would reach if you used ffwd is:
ffwd Advantages are: a landing page all about you - your thoughts, favorites, personality, etc, where you as curator is recognized as the "source" of the recommendation rather than the site that simply hosts the video.
Even the ffwd button has been infused with the essence of you. It will guide the visitors exploration through previous videos you have shared, and videos from channels you subscribe to. It's like you had your own web TV station.
The last benefit is primarily for your followers. Instead of a nondescript TinyURL, the ffwd share bookmarklet posts a URL that explicitly indicates that the content is a video. It's a simple thing, but a key UI optimization when you are dealing with only 160 characters.
In summary, the ffwd bookmarklet optimizes sharing video on Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook or any lifestream (just let us know which ones) by making it easy for followers to recognize your video recommendations and watch them. Please read more, install the bookmarklet and Twitter connect (you'll need an ffwd account) or see it in action.
