Posted by Wayne Neale
I have used the web since 1993…yes before Mosaic (the first graphical internet browser) was developed at NCSA. I was working on a multimedia project as part of my dissertation at Virginia Tech and someone told me about http and I logged on to check it out. This is not interesting I thought, it won’t support the user experience I was developing as part of my project. Later I discovered Mosaic and had one of those holy Sh*^ moments. Some of you may remember when you didn’t have to log onto the Internet with dial up. You were “always connected” and it was fast. This also moved my computer from the office to my living room. Another moment, I thought, where the world was about to change. There have been a few others…social and mobile phones for example. I think live streaming video is another one of these moments!
There is nothing too technologically advanced about live streaming video. In fact, there have been several other live streaming apps going back 4 or more years such as Qik. So what has changed? It’s the experience! The interface to these new apps are easy to use, yes, the app is easy to download/install and its easy to logon… just use your twitter account. Its the complete user experience, and those things I just mentioned are part of it, of instantly sharing video spontaneously, or planned, with a global audience whether its a mom in her New Zealand home talking about her children, a rap group in New York city getting feedback on a new song that they were just working on, or a young gent in Belgium with the title, “ask me to do anything.” The experience is captivating, engaging, sharing, interactive, personal, global, communicative, funny and interesting all in one. And that’s just on the voyeuristic side of things! So far I have broadcasted Kydak’s quote wall about design inspiration, several conversations with people, an acoustic performance of Led Zeppelin's Rain Song and part of a comedy show I attended. This experience is also captivating. It can be serious like about work, totally casual in my kitchen showing people how to make a workout recovery smoothie or for fun like the comedian that was cracking us up. You get to watch how many people start joining the broadcast, they start commenting or asking you questions and what’s fascinating is you can ask them questions and they start responding immediately through comments. And who doesn’t like hearts? This is fundamental! It’s about the human desire for connection, for sharing and for communication. So this recent phenomenon will change how news is reported and will change the social fabric of the planet. It takes advantage of mobile technology, the social graph and soon Facebook and Google will have one! This will only get more powerful and more persuasive as it spreads. The experience is everything that the product affords but also everything humans bring to the experience and the context. But why does everyone want to know what’s in your fridge?
There is nothing too technologically advanced about live streaming video. In fact, there have been several other live streaming apps going back 4 or more years such as Qik. So what has changed? It’s the experience! The interface to these new apps are easy to use, yes, the app is easy to download/install and its easy to logon… just use your twitter account. Its the complete user experience, and those things I just mentioned are part of it, of instantly sharing video spontaneously, or planned, with a global audience whether its a mom in her New Zealand home talking about her children, a rap group in New York city getting feedback on a new song that they were just working on, or a young gent in Belgium with the title, “ask me to do anything.” The experience is captivating, engaging, sharing, interactive, personal, global, communicative, funny and interesting all in one. And that’s just on the voyeuristic side of things! So far I have broadcasted Kydak’s quote wall about design inspiration, several conversations with people, an acoustic performance of Led Zeppelin's Rain Song and part of a comedy show I attended. This experience is also captivating. It can be serious like about work, totally casual in my kitchen showing people how to make a workout recovery smoothie or for fun like the comedian that was cracking us up. You get to watch how many people start joining the broadcast, they start commenting or asking you questions and what’s fascinating is you can ask them questions and they start responding immediately through comments. And who doesn’t like hearts? This is fundamental! It’s about the human desire for connection, for sharing and for communication. So this recent phenomenon will change how news is reported and will change the social fabric of the planet. It takes advantage of mobile technology, the social graph and soon Facebook and Google will have one! This will only get more powerful and more persuasive as it spreads. The experience is everything that the product affords but also everything humans bring to the experience and the context. But why does everyone want to know what’s in your fridge?
Photo credits: Meerkat and Periscope
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