Rich Media publishing does get my vote even if I don’t personally like it. It makes web publishing quick, easy and interactive. I don’t like it because I don’t look good in video and sound funny in pod casts, but we will debate that later, I know you love me.
Today there are two bits of news on the rich media front. On one hand Indian Social Network Ibibo is said to have launched voice blogging a couple of weeks back and on the other popular video streaming site Ustream launched Private Labeled Video Streaming Service – Watershed.
The Ibibo Voice Blogging:
Voice blogging is basically a mobile enabled feature for Ibibo bloggers to put their voice on the web. The Ibibo blog describes using the feature thus:
Step 1: Ensure that you have linked your Mobile Number with your ibibo account
Step 2: If your mobile is already linked with ibibo account then Call 011- 66246801 from your mobile
Step 3: Start Speaking/Recording your voice blog after the Beep
Step 4: Press # to stop recording
Step 5: Press 1 to listen to your voice blog or Press 2 to record again
Step 6: Press 3 to make it live on your blog or just drop the call if you don’t want to make it live on your blog
Step 7: If you pressed 3, a new post would be created on your blog with the recording of your voice. Your blog readers will be able to listen to your First “Voice Blog”
Step 8: Now whenever you have time to get online you can go on to edit the title of your post and put tags and add such posts to a specific category
The question on most user’s mind after this announcement is how are Ibibo users beyond Delhi going to use this service as the number listed is a Delhi and NCR one. I haven’t found an answer to this yet anywhere, any Ibibo word on this?
Whether this feature live beyond its novelty period is hard to say, depends entirely on the kind of content the Ibibo bloggers post really which will decide on the level of engagement to keep people hooked. However, it is certainly a good initiative in terms of convenient publishing. I listened to one of these blog posts and it streamed without glitches as well.
Ustream Introduces Watershed:
Watershed is a self-serve platform for organizations both large and small who need private-label live, interactive video. It offers plug-and-play widgets, API integration solutions as well as Pay-As-You-Go pricing without any monthly commitment or contract. Basically pay for what you use without any liability or minimum usage limit. (oh that’s what pay as you go means)
Ustream aims to pitch this new service to small enterprises, colleges and universities, conferences, news coverage, and online personals. Watershed also has some interesting features with its granular security settings, detailed analytics, and real-time chat and polls.
Ustream.tv itself has been gaining prominence with its live streaming service that is quite popular among social media users, bloggers and the college crowd in the states. While Ustreams solution is basically free, Watershed is effectively a business channel dedicated to building business for the company. (Something Twitter can think about I guess what with Yammer already beginning to see profits)
