Hello! So this is my first article here on Techburgh, and I was going to give you a bit of an idea as to who I am, but Andy posted a pretty decent bio on me over here, so I think I’ll skip the "about me" and jump into the "about this column". I’m going to be posting every Wednesday about web applications. Sometimes it’ll be a review on specific sites, and sometimes it will simply be creative ways to use existing sites. Today, we’re going to take a look at Seesmic.
Seesmic can most easily be described as a video Twitter – but there’s a lot more to it then that. Upon login, you’re presented with a list of public videos down the left, and an open, empty video playback area… Almost like a blank canvas for you to work with. Selecting a video plays it in the main space, and gives you a profile of the author. Much like Twitter, you can then follow that person’s videos, and they’ll then appear in the friends tab on the left, rather then having to browse the pages of public videos for them.
You can also very quickly post your own video. Using Flash, Seesmic allows you to record a video directly from your webcam with no software install. Quality will vary based on camera and lighting, but generally they turn out pretty decent. You can take your videos out of Seesmic, too. You can fill in profile details such as your Twitter account (Which posts a link to the video) or your YouTube account (Which posts a copy of the video) or can generate embed code to place your video anywhere on the web. Don’t have a webcam? No problem. Seesmic can take a YouTube URL and import it, or you can upload a Flash video (.flv) and have that posted. Your videos can also be a direct reply to someone else’s video, and the site will identify it as such.
Seesmic was started by French serial entrepreneur Loïc Le Meur, who moved to San Francisco this year to start it. He has a blog and has been posting videos on YouTube, as well as on Seesmic, allowing users to follow the company as it grows, including it’s first office and it’s first pieces of furnature. It’s an exciting site that has a lot of potential, especially given the fact that it’s already grossly popular and is not yet even 2 months old.
Seesmic is still in a closed beta state, but has a sign up page for invitations. Techburgh has 3 invites to give away to our readers – and will be doing so NEXT Wednesday, December 5th, to a reader who comments on this post before midnight Eastern time on December 4th. Good luck, and I’ll see you on Seesmic!
Tommy’s column on web applications runs every Wednesday on Techburgh. If you’ve got a web app you’d like to see Tommy review, you can contact him by email: tommy [at] techburgh [dot] com.
