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Trend: Lifecasting - Lifelogging
Written By Josefine Koehn on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 8:52 PM | In Marketing Trends, Technology Trends, Lifestyle Trends, USA
Wearable webcams enable lifecasters to broadcast online 24/7.
Trend Description:
Wearable digital technology enables users to broadcast their lives around the clock. While there are many sites that allow users to post videos online for free, a personal 24/7 online video stream required the broadcaster to host his or her own website. Justin.tv allows users to feed their live video streams straight to the Internet.
Cases:
Justin.tv
Justin.tv is like Twitter for video broadcasting. Founded in October 2006 as a single channel, it is now a network of many diverse channels. Justin.tv is providing a platform to stream live videos and allows users to design their own live video channel pages. There is also a live chat function that enables interaction between viewers and broadcasters from around the world. Users can either stream their own vidoes, watch live video streams, and browse the archives of each channel. The history of each channel is searchable, and viewers can even create highlight clips which they can link, share, and embed on their own websites.
Ustream.tv
Ustream.TV is another live interactive video broadcast platform. Everyone with a camera and an Internet connection can broadcast live to a global audience. Right now viewers can find and watch political debates, talk shows, red carpet events, and videos of known and unknown bands and musicians. Corporate users can also watch trade conferences and training sessions.
Trend Impact:
Ustream.tv and Justin.tv expanded quickly. Just one year after its founding, Justin.tv had expanded to nearly 700 channels generating 1,650 hours of daily programming. Shortly after becoming an open network at the beginning of October 2007, 3,200 lifecasters had signed up for an account. A sampling by the New York Times journalist Randall Stross put the numbers at 500,000 visitors and 18,500 hours of video in the first five business days, in perspective - Stross found, that on average just 44 viewers attended the most heavily visited channels at a time. There are heavily viewed videos, some even with over 25,500 viewers, but some of the hits are repeat viewers and people who only watch for a few seconds. The heavily visited channels still seem to have only 30 to 40 visitors at a time. But despite the big question if there is a big enough audience for all those lifecasts, this trend is a necessary step towards the growing integration of digital technology into our world and environment. Lifecasting will not only open new possibilities for the marketing and news sector, but also raise some critical questions about the use of digital media.
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