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A new chatroom service is on the scene.  TinyChat claims to take the “ugh” out of bulky videoconferencing.

A quote from the site:

“Tinychat delivers dead simple video conferences without the extraneous ad-ons and inconvenience, making video conferencing an accessible, uncomplicated experience.”

I tested it twice today, once with Steve Garfield in the morning, and once this evening with one of the TinyChat founders, Dan Blake. Dan had 12 of us video conferencing at once, including users like twitter.com/jowyang, twitter.com/chrissaad, twitter.com/theagent and others you might recognize.  There were a ton of people in the chatroom watching the 12 of us on video.

It’s a new app, so it obviously has kinks to work out. Here are some I noticed:

Echo: Everyone MUST wear earphones, or the echo is overwhelming.

Audio: Pretty good but tricky: I faded in and out in the big conversation and my Mac Book Pro’s built-in mic wouldn’t work. I had to attach an external USB Logitech mic.

Price: After a while, Tinychat sends a pop-up window promoting pro service. $14.95/month seems a bit high for the single user. I would never, ever pay that. I can see if a company may want to pay for it as that subscription rate gets you 5 video chatrooms, but I’m a single person and will only use 1. I need a cheaper option for that, even if they limit me to 5 chats a month or perhaps a limit of 6 people in the room instead of 12.

Policing: The owner of the room must be able to kick people out and mute others.

Conversation management:  Right now if you have a full 12 people in the room, it is difficult to see who is talking.  Someone mentioned programming some sort of visual signal on the person’s video stream, but I can’t imagine how that can be coded with the current tech.  If you have the owner click on a user, perhaps then, but the owner would have to keep clicking on each new speaker.   I say TinyChat just needs to give the owner of the room standard chatroom moderation powers.

Chatroom:  Standard chatroom, worked fine.  Need moderator powers there too.

Desktop sharing:  This was a fantastic and so-easy-it-is-revolutionary feature.  Any user (or “broadcaster”) in the video chat can share their desktop with the group.  And not just screen shots, actual moving, LIVE DESKTOP.  I showed a video, clicked around, etc.  This blew my mind in terms of the various ways tech support staff could help users.  Yes, there are many various remote-desktop sharing programs out there but they are bulky, stand-alone, not-end-user-friendly applications.  TinyChat integrates it into the service so well that even the STUPIDEST-I-forgot-to-plug-in-my-computer end-user could share their desktop.  It is truly brilliant.  I can see families getting together, solving mom’s computer problem, sharing videos, collaborating on vacations or choosing which pictures go in the scrapbook they are making for Grandma. That little add-on will be the killer app part of TinyChat.   It’s what separates it from the other video chatrooms (like yahoo live, etc.) that I’ve come across.

Way to go, TinyChat guys.  Fix yer bugs and you’ll be golden!  And please, offer a “semi-pro” plan for the little ol’ single users among us.  We’d like passwords to protect our chats too.

-PC

Formats Available: iPod/g1 Video (.m4v) | Audio (.mp3)
 

Some of you writers out there may not be familiar with the social media world. There are now things called “book videos.” A book video is like a short movie preview for an upcoming or newly released book. In this month’s The Writer magazine, journalist Beth Bakkum writes a short blurb about book videos. Here it is with my added links:

PROMOTIONAL BOOK VIDEOS CATCH ON

In the age of YouTube and MySpace, publishers are looking for new ways to connect with the Internet crowd. Promotional book videos are their latest endeavor to do just that. Simon & Schuster launched a video site that features 40 writers; Hyperion Books, HarperCollins and Penguin Group also use book films, as does Oregon bookseller Powell’s Books.

The videos aren’t intended to be Hollywood slick; rather, they’re short, informal clips to help the reader get to know the author and learn about the book.

“I don’t know if we’re reaching people we wouldn’t otherwise be reaching, but we are reaching people who are not necessarily reading book-review sections, or always watching a TV show,”Sue Fleming, Simon & Schuster’s vice president and executive director for online and consumer marketing, tells the Associated Press.

Brian Murray, president of HarperCollins Worldwide, points out the success of the book video made for the bestseller The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Igguiden. “It was such a good piece that the Today show picked up on it and aired the whole thing.,” he said.

Author Marianne Wiggins recently made a video for her novel The Shadow Catcher. “I don’t know any writers these days who would say that it is beneath their dignity to make a video. Sales have been flat for publishers and I want to find readers. If my publisher suggests something like this to me, I’m certainly going to go hand in hand with that endeavor.” -Beth Bakkum

Most book videos now contain a short explanation of the story with an interview with the author. The majority of book videos concentrate on promoting the author more than the book. Robin Mizell of the blog Treated and Released has a great article about how we as authors and artists can take this one step up. Robin outlines how creative a book video can be, has links to some contests, and outlines in detail what an author should do to create and distribute a book video themselves. Check it out and learn up – this is where book selling is going.

I’d like to make an added suggestion for those of us who are working on their first project: Make the book video before the book is finished. Heck, perhaps even before you start writing. Why not use video and audio media to help you with your planning? As with writing a logline for your book, making an amateur book video in your own home can help you define your characters and hone in your plot. If you don’t have your logline written, a longer, more drawn out interview can help you get down to the bare bones of the storyline. If you can’t get anything out of it, show the video to a friend and have a discussion about your friend’s impressions. Watch a couple of book videos, do your own, act like a “real” author. This could go a long way in boosting your confidence, streamlining your project, and building enthusiasm to write. Two caveats: 1. Don’t show or publish the book video to anyone but your closest first readers/friends. You wouldn’t want interest to bubble up in a product that isn’t produced. 2. Think twice about sending your homemade book video to publishers along with your transcript. Whereas some may be intrigued by it, others may see it as a gimmick. Do some research first before submitting a book video. Those caveats aside, I think a book video can be a great way to start a project. I’m working on the script for my book’s video today.

Please tell me what you think of book videos and using social media as a creative spark generator.