Seesmic: the genesis of video as conversation

It's become so fashionable of late to be an anti-fanboy that I almost feel uncool about writing this, but on this occasion I have to echo the echo chamber and agree that the video messaging service Seesmic is going to be huge. And that's without even having trialled it!

How can I jump to that conclusion without even having tested the software? Because in a short back and forth between Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur and uber blogger Robert Scoble I saw what I believe is the birth of video as conversation. That exchange took place on Twitter over the weekend and went something like this - Scoble takes a sarcastic swipe at the 5 minute limit on Seesmic. Loic responds with the case for why it is so. Robert's retort is an octave higher and a glass of wine later. Loic waves back with his own glass of wine and and an impassioned plea for understanding.

It was hardly Oscar material but it did mark the first time I've witnessed what I'd classify as a video conversation. And despite the stubbornly expressed views on both sides it was apparent that this was a good humored interaction between friends, enjoying the level of banter that could only be experienced by face-to-face or video-to-video communication. Tone of voice, facial expressions and gesticulations gave the conversation a dept of meaning impossible in text only tools like Twitter.

The nerds among us who argue that people can't possibly parse or consume large volumes of video are thinking too much like the edge cases that we are. Forget about feed aggregation and Twitter streams. Rather contemplate the niche markets like tech support and family fun. I can imagine geographically dispersed families having endless entertainment with Seesmic, kids and grandparents alike. Now if only someone from the in-crowd could nab me an invite. Ya, looking at you Dennis Howlett ;-)

Comments

[Rupert]

This kind of conversation has been happening all over the web for years, in unstructured ways and more structured ways like conversations via video replies on YouTube, Myspace and Facebook. Videobloggers on the Yahoo videoblogging group have been communicating with video in direct and much more creative ways for almost four years.
That said, a single site which centralises immediate video messaging, conversation and more creative play will be useful. I hope they set their content free so that not everything has to be channelled through the site. Not just because of the aesthetic limitations - but allowing functionality like multiple file formats, podcasting, media RSS, mobile upload & viewing and auto-crossposting to blogs would make them much stronger than competing sites like Youtube, and much more useful to people genuinely trying to have a web-wide conversation.

[Rupert]

This kind of conversation has been happening all over the web for years, in unstructured ways and more structured ways like conversations via video replies on YouTube, Myspace and Facebook. Videobloggers on the Yahoo videoblogging group have been communicating with video in direct and much more creative ways for almost four years.
That said, a single site which centralises immediate video messaging, conversation and more creative play will be useful. I hope they set their content free so that not everything has to be channelled through the site. Not just because of the aesthetic limitations - but allowing functionality like multiple file formats, podcasting, media RSS, mobile upload & viewing and auto-crossposting to blogs would make them much stronger than competing sites like Youtube, and much more useful to people genuinely trying to have a web-wide conversation.

[Gerald Buckley]

YouTube and its video response option comes to might straight up. But, seriously, a video conversation being something novel? Ever hear of the Connectix WebCam? Apple iChat?

Granted, Loic's going to have some interesting options ahead. Hope they're good options and the choices are the right ones for him, his team and the Seesmic shareholders.

[James Corbett]

I realize I didn't make it very clear in my post Gerald but I'm talking about recorded asynchronous video as conversation, not live video chat. And as Rupert says it's the idea of centralizing it and make it drop dead simple to use which I see as a possible tipping point. Just like Twitter added another dimension to blogging, from what I've seen (very little as I said) it appears Seesmic is adding another dimension to video messaging.

[mj]

Um, so you reckon the vast unwashed are going to plump for this the way they LOVE using voicemail?

Does anyone enjoy voicemail tag? And you reckon this is going to be better because people are never self-conscious on video?

James James James....nevermind the cynic, where's the realist!

[Paul Fabretti]

You just know when something is easy to use when somebody posts a comment (in this case a "Sees-ure"!) that in fact, nothing is going on!

Making video as easy as twitter/jaiku is going to be great. Allowing mobile video sees-ures is going to be the killer app.

But I wouldn't know because I haven't got an invite...yet (hint!)

[James Corbett]

MJ, think outside the box. I'm more interested in niche applications like family video journals with, obviously, appropriate privacy controls. Why would people be shy about posting video that only their designated family members can view? By the way I also think that our generation's discomfort with video is something that the next generation is shaking off with vigor, just like they've done with photos and profiles in MySpace and Bebo.

Hey Paul did you just coin that - Sees-ures? You should! I'd love to hand out invites but unfortunately it looks like Loic is retaining full control of that as I don't see anyway to do so. I'll let you know if that changes and you're at the top of the list :)

[Loic]

I appreciate so much attention thank you for your comments. The tech team does not give me more invites right now they don't want the server to crash every 5 mins. They want to consolidate first.

Trust me we are not doing that for PR, just building seesmic in the open with the first users in... getting bugs out of the way etc.

We'll get invites out asap !

[mj]

LOL, "think outside the box"?

Seemic need to get client software for the millions of camera-enabled mobile phones out there PDQ.

Otherwise there's no "instant" in it.

[James Corbett]

Le Meur says mobile features are coming... this is only Alpha software MJ... give 'em a chance!

[mj]

We've trademarked "Coming Soon" (as it's what we say all the time), just so you know!

[Paul Walsh]

Not for PR Loic? Pull the other one mate ;)