Video: JumpCam

Use:  Easily combine video snippets from multiple locations into one seamless video

In an earlier blog post, I featured an app called Crowdflik that allows you to aggregate video clips from various shooters at the same event. JumpCam is a similar concept but allows videographers at different locations (and different times) to collaborate on a single video and edit it in real-time.  Using the free app, a user can shoot up to a 10-second video and then invite others to add their clips to the same video (for up to 30 clips).  Users can arrange the clips in any order, add music, etc.

Publishers can use JumpCam to create a single video from reporters covering different aspects of the same story.  For example, reporters can be spread out over a town capturing perspectives on a new city ordinance and integrate them into one video.  Or students covering simultaneous football games at different locations could provide quick game summaries that can be combined into one movie.

More:

TechCrunch: JumpCam, Backed With $2.7M, Debuts Its Snappy Mobile App For Making Collaborative Videos

Time:  JumpCam Is a Video Sharing Network That’s Collaborative as Well as Social

The Verge: JumpCam for iPhone wants you to crowdsource your video with friends

 

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Video: Spreecast

Use:  Provide users with access to real-time virtual conversations with reporters, thought leaders, newsmakers, etc.

Spreecast is a “social video” platform that allows users to view real-time, streaming conversations between up to four people.  Publishers can organize conversations, interviews, etc. with newsmakers through Webcams and broadcast that to viewers through Spreecast’s platform.  Video conversations can be shared on social media platforms and are archived for later viewing.

From TechCrunchUp to 4 people at a time can be face-to-face, streaming their conversation live while hundreds of others can watch, chat, and participate by submitting comments and questions to those on-screen. Viewers can also request to join on camera, while producers of the Spreecast can manage the action. Spreecast is also integrated with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ so that producers and creators can broadcast their conversations to their friends, followers, circles, contacts and connections. Once live-streamed, Spreecasts are recorded and then made immediately available for playback and sharing. The platform is browser-based and built on Flash. By default, Spreecasts are public and designed to be social but users can also create private Spreecasts as well.

More:

PCMag.com: Q&A: StubHub Founder Mixes Social Media, Video, Celebs on Spreecast

TechCrunch: Social Video Startup Spreecast Launches An iPhone App And Mobile Web Streaming For iOS And Android

Video: Crowdflik

Use:  Find and integrate user-created videos from the same event

Crowdflik is a free app that allows users to shoot video of events and find and edit other videos shot with CrowdFlik from the same event.  According to the developer, “CrowdFlik uses the naval atomic clock to accurately time stamp video with 1/10th of a second accuracy. Once video is captured and saved, it is stored in the cloud and recognized by the app in 10 second clips on the event timeline. When a user taps their favorite video clips from an event, CrowdFlik is then able to pull the different event footage from the cloud and synchronize it precisely.”

Although developed initially for use at concerts, weddings, parties, etc., you can imagine news organizations aggregating different video perspectives from the same news event and editing into one package.  Of course, that requires that other witnesses are using the Crowdflik app as well.

More

TechCrunch: CrowdFlik’s Auto-Synced, Crowdsourced Footage Lets Anyone Become A Documentary Filmmaker

Yahoo Small Business Adviser: CrowdFlik: Crowdsource Your Visual Content Marketing

Social Media: Facebook Conversations

Use:  Supplement news coverage with related real-time conversations on Facebook; provide added value to advertisers with real-time brand discussions

Facebook has launched two new APIs to track and integrate conversations into news coverage.  According to the AllFacebook blog, the two APIs include:  “the public feed API, which displays a real-time feed of public posts for a specific word; and the keyword insights API, which tallies the total number of posts that mention a specific term during a specific time period, as well as enabling news organization to feature anonymous, aggregated results based on gender, age, and location.”

These new features are additional arsenal in Facebook’s competitive battle with Twitter.  As described on Facebook’s Newsroom blog: “Over the past few months, we have rolled out a series of products aimed at surfacing the public conversations happening on Facebook including hashtags, embedded posts, and trending topics. We are committed to building features that improve the experience of discovering and participating in conversations about things happening in the world right now, including entertainment, sports, politics and news.”

The APIs currently are available to only a few media companies but Facebook says they are “beginning discussions with other media partners and preferred marketing developers (PMD’s) and will make it available to additional partners in the coming weeks.”

You can imagine that the new APIs will be mostly useful to national media organizations who are covering topics that impact a larger group of users.  But a big local news item — disasters, college or professional sports teams, salacious trials — could also generate enough conversation that local publishers could meaningfully tap into.

More:

Mashable: Facebook’s New APIs Help Media Outlets Highlight Real-Time Conversations

AllFacebook blog: Facebook Releases Two APIs That Allow News Organizations To Tap Into Its Real-Time Public Posts

PCMag: Facebook Goes After Twitter with Real-Time Conversation

 

 

 

Content Distribution: Chrome Web Apps

Use: Efficiently develop desktop apps that will work seamlessly across operating systems/devices with or without an Internet connection

Google’s Chrome team has developed a Web-app technology that sits on top of, but is not dependent on the, Web browser and works across operating systems (currently Windows and Chromebooks, but reportedly coming for Mac, iOS, Linux and mobile platforms as well.  The technology is built with HTML5, JavaScript and cascading style sheets.

According to ReadWrite: “Chrome Web Apps open in their own windows, not the browser. But these apps will work offline and can use hardware (memory cards, cameras, drives) connected to the device they’re running on—something that traditional Web apps can’t do. The browser itself doesn’t even have to be running, although the apps will tap into its native functionality.”

While many publishers are developing HTML5-based sites that provide app-like capabilities on any browser, the Chrome Web Apps — because they open outside of the browser and don’t require an Internet connection — feel more native-app like.  Of course, users will have to install the Chrome browser on their desktops for the technology to work.

More:

ReadWrite: A New Google Technology Aims To Make Apps Run Everywhere—Well, Almost

Information Week: Google Debuts Chrome Web Apps

The Verge: Google’s Trojan horse: how Chrome Apps will finally take on Windows

 

 

Video: MixBit

Use:  Create low-cost video presentations by linking together and editing various video snippets

MixBit is a new video app from the founders of YouTube that allows publishers to stitch together and edit video snippets using the MixBit app.  So, for example, if a publisher is covering a local political campaign, the reporter can shoot up to 256, 16-second clips (candidates speech, reactions from supporters/detractors, crowd shots, etc.) and then easily edit them together into coherent video presentation.  The video can then be shared through MixBit and other social media platforms.

Publishers could also use the tool to create native advertising video for advertisers, for example taking clips of various do-it-yourself projects sponsored by a local (or Big Box) hardware store.

More:

TechCrunch: YouTube Founders Introduce MixBit To Crack The Code Of Video Editing On Mobile

The Verge: YouTube founders remix Vine and Instagram with Mixbit for iOS

Digital Trends: MixBit App Review: From the makers of YouTube comes the newest video-sharing app

Related Apps for Media Posts:

Video and Audio Editing Apps

Videolicious

Soo Meta

 

 

Content Distribution: Google In-Depth Stories

Use:  Increase exposure of related content to articles that show up in Google search

In early August, Google began rolling out a new search feature called “In-Depth Articles.”  The feature will surface content relevant to specific search results to provide users with more background on searched topics.  According to Google:  “these results are ranked algorithmically based on many signals that look for high-quality, in-depth content.”  (See link below to similar Twitter feature launched on August 20).

So, for example, if a user searches for Edwin Snowden,  a list of in-depth articles will appear below search results and might include stories about the NSA Prism program, reaction from foreign governments, tensions between the U.S. and Russia over granting of asylum, etc.

Google offers a variety of tips to optimize this feature, including a logo and implementing aspects of schema.org article, markup, authorship markup and, for paid sites, first click free.

More:

Update 8/21/2013: Mashable: Twitter Provides Context With Related Headlines Feature

Hubspot: What Google’s ‘In-Depth Articles’ Algorithm Update Means For Your Content Strategy

Copyblogger: How to Write the In-Depth Articles that Google Loves

The Moz Blog: Inside In-depth Articles: Dissecting Google’s Latest Feature

Mobile: Mobile Analytics

Use:  Track mobile usage behavior, including usage and transactions

The following article from The Next Web offers recommendations on mobile analytics  packages from nine entrepreneurs:

9 tools to help you measure mobile analytics

 

More:

Moby Affiliates: The Best Mobile Site and App Analytics Tools

Apptamin Blog: Learn How People Use Your App – An App Analytics Tools Round-Up

Roundup: Tips and Tools for Writers and Journalists, Part 2

Following is an aggregation of stories with tips and tools for journalists and writers.  Part 1 is located here.

Journalism.co.uk: 6 lessons from BuzzFeed as it launches in the UK

Streetfight: 7 Strategies for Generating Localized News Stories

Social Media Examiner: 3 Tools to Help You Discover and Share Great Content

Storyful: Facebook for news: maximising the effectiveness of Facebook newsgathering

Journalism.co.uk: 16 online tools for newsgathering

Journalism.co.uk: 20 search tips and tools for journalists

Mashable: 13 Best Free Audio Editors

Journalism.co.uk: Journalist launches iPad app for logging video interviews

PaidContent: Check out Slate’s cool tool for better Twitter headlines

Journalism.co.uk: Twenty Tumblr tips for news outlets

API: 10 tips for understanding your audiences and targeting new ones