If tweets showcase 140 characters and pictures are worth a thousand words, where do videos fit into the grand scheme of visual pleasures?
This year — on Twitter at least — videos have taken a backseat due in part to the increasing popularity of photo-sharing services like Instagram and Picplz. Although video-sharing sites and apps are playing second fiddle at the moment, a handful of Twitter users swear by their video-centric tweets.
“I share videos on Twitter because let’s face it, sometimes you can’t come across in just words,” says comedian Bradley Laborman, a frequent YouTuber and creator of BradmanTV. “Me tweeting, ‘This HOT DOG is UH-MAZING,’ is not as effective as me posting a quick video where I serenade the hot dog and scream to the sky how amazing it actually is.”
From a business perspective, company-made videos and user-generated videos have proven to be powerful marketing tools. For example, referral traffic from YouTube to the Shorty Awards website this year was higher than Google’s referral traffic to the site because many nominees created video campaigns.
“The scalability of making a great looking video clip is nuts in 2011 and will continue to get easier and easier,” says Natan Edelsburg, supervising producer for the Shorty Awards and vice president of Sawhorse Media. “A year or two from now it will be irresponsible for everyone to write a press release or make a big announcement without complementing it with some kind of short video clip.”
Whether for business or personal use, indulge in these four video-sharing services that launched or added new features in this past year. In the comments, let us know which apps you use to share your own videos on Twitter or other social sites.
1. Socialcam
Socialcam's tagline is: "Shoot, tag and share it with your friends ... instantly." The app, which is tied to Justin.tv, lets you sign up with your Facebook account and then share videos on multiple outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and even Google+.
In fewer than five minutes, I signed up on my Droid X, recorded a 34-second video, uploaded it and shared it. Had I recorded friends in my video, I could have tagged them even if they weren't Socialcam users. âWe hope tagging will insert a level of shareability that will wow everybody," said Matthew DiPietro, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Justin.tv.
âWe built it very specifically for friends and family," DiPietro added. "However, thatâs the exact same thing that Mark Zuckerberg was thinking about when he launched Facebook, and Facebook is a much more widely used platform now.â
2. Viddy
Laborman uses Viddy, an app that allows you to capture, "beautify" and share 15-second videos.
"It's basically the Instagram for video users," Laborman says. "You shoot a video, you add a filter and you decide whether or not you want background music on the video."
The process is simple: Click the âShareâ button in the middle of the navigation panel to upload a video from your gallery or shoot a new one. Trim the clip to your liking and apply effects using âproduction packages.âViddy's iPhone app, which launched in April and has been downloaded 500,000 times as of May, it is compatible with iPod touch and iPad but requires iOS 4.1 or later. Viddy's website says Android, Windows and BlackBerry versions of the app are in the works.
3. Screenr
Web-based screen recorder Screenr launched in 2009, but the service recently added new features that address users' concerns about sharing video comments via tweets.
"Previously, comments on Screenr were tied to your Twitter account and forced you to tweet your comments," Screenr said in a blog. "Users told us they often wanted to make comments without tweeting them. Now, Screenr has bulit-in commenting so your comments stay just on Screenr. And donât worry, thereâs also a separate Tweet button if you still want to tweet your comments."
To create a video, Mac or PC users can adjust the video frame to a size of their liking and then click record to walk viewers through an online activity. Screenr automatically provides a shortened link to the video to quicken the sharing process.
4. Zocial.tv
If you like sharing trendy videos on Twitter, Zocial.tv is the site and app for you.
Zocial.tv aggregates the most-shared videos on Twitter and Facebook, separates them into categories (i.e. music, sports, education) and creates top 25 lists sorted by today, yesterday, the week or month. The site's sharing tool â powered by ShareThis â lets you share any of the videos on Twitter and other social sites. You also can +1 or "Like" a video.
Using the Zocial.tv website (above), I shared a video that was already in the top 25 Thursday morning in the music category. The Zocial.tv
