Thoughts on My Oovoo Day
The folks at crayon have been engaged in a fun experiment this week with their client, Oovoo, an online video chat provider.
It’s called “My OovooDay” – described on the splash page as “a week-long experiment in blogger to fan interaction. Notable bloggers from across the 'sphere will host interactive conversations on hot topics, facilitated by the multi-person video chat technology from our friends at ooVoo.”
Some of the bloggers who are participating this week include CC Chapman, Geoff Linvingston, iJustine, Chris Brogan, Connie Reece & Susan Reynolds, David Meerman Scott, Mitch Joel, Irina Slutsky, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Jeff Joe Jaffe, and many others. (Schedule of conversations can be found on the sign-up page.)
I should note that I have not been a participant in any of these chats (maybe I’m an anti-social Social Media guy?), but, I have read many of the bloggers’ follow-up posts about the experiment, and was briefed on the program in advance by my friend, crayon’s Scott Monty.
The good: Oovoo allows up to 6 people at a time to communicate in a real-time, private video chat. So much of our interactions with our favorite bloggers are confined to reading their posts and commenting back-and-forth – which is intellectually stimulating but dry. To be able to chat, laugh, ask good questions and follow-up instantly – while also getting a good sense for the blogger’s true nature – is a very “social” opportunity. If you like the idea of getting 30–minutes’ worth of up-close time with a star blogger, definitely sign up for one of the remaining time slots.
(Obviously Oovoo’s experiment suggests that we extrapolate this functionality, i.e., “Wouldn’t it be fun to use Oovoo for video chats with farflung colleagues, vs. a mundane conference call?”)
The could-be-even-better: I was disappointed to learn that I couldn’t watch any of the fun as a curious bystander. These chats were (by technical necessity) private: only the 6 participants online interacted … behind a screen, in a sense. It would have been pretty fascinating to watch bloggers interact “live and in-person” with up to 5 of their biggest fans (or foes)!
Imagine how much more social such an event would be, if – as the 6 participants bantered – external viewers could comment in a public IM window to applaud, goad, and goose the live conversation?
Continue reading here: Open Letter to CEO Bloggers
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