On Saturday night YouTube did a live event for which I have only seen basic traffic data and the event seemed to top out at approximately 700,000 concurrent viewers. I wonder if this was a marketing success for YouTube. They had several sponsors (LionsGate, Guitar Hero, Virgin America and Flip Video. As I didn't watch live I am not sure how and to what extent these advertisers were integrated. I think we will see more of this type of event programming from YouTube. But this is not what this post is about. I wanted to take some time to and talk about some companies I have been following for the past year that are doing some interesting things.
The YouTube event was a mass broadcast and as I said I think there will be more of these to come but I think the larger trend will be micro-broadcasting. People have been broadcasting what they have been doing for several years via microblogging applications like twitter, tumblr, Facebook Status, etc. and I think the following companies will bring the next evolution which will bring mobile video to the masses. Kyte, Qik, and Seesmic these applications allow you to micro-broadcast video of what you are doing live. Each of these applications allow you to not only broadcast live but they also allow you to have an IM like conversation live as you are broadcasting. Qik is working on an iPhone app with for now will only work with jailbroken iPhones. Here is Kevin Rose showing off the app on his iPhone:
These applications are very early on the Gartner hypecycle so there will be lots of time for evolution especially as mobile phone cameras get better and/or if one of the carriers embraces the application:
Since the title of this post is "Interesting Companies" I don't want to limit the discussion to the mobile space. Sling and Orb (although Orb work with any media on your computer) allow you to bring your favorite TV shows with you anywhere you have access to an internet connection. Both companies are working on iPhone apps.
FriendFeed - Allows you to aggregate all your social application/sites into one feed. I have been using freindfeed for about a year and it definitely is an interesting application but it can get overwhelming if the people you are following overshare.
Me.dium - No longer exists but I always felt this application had a lot of promise. The app allowed your friends to have a shared browsing experience allowing for comments and IM/chatting experience. Me.dium has evolved to OneRiot a search engine with a social aspect.
Flock Browser - Is a full browser that allows for a shared experience, although I think this is probably the right model for social browsing experience Flock probably does not have enough users to make reach critical mass.
Ultimately, I think Google has the best chance for doing something major in this area. With google chrome browser, gmail chat, gmail video, and with the addition of search commenting/ranking google has all the elements and the large enough user base to make social browsing a mass application.
These are some of the companies I have been following that I think have huge impact on technology, social media, and/or the way we interact.
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