I’m struggling with the concept of “always on” personal video feeds, a la Justin TV.
I thought it was interesting when I first heard about Justin. Then I saw that Robert Scoble and Jerimiah Owyang will be streaming live from Web 2.0 Expo.
My feelings are mixed. My initial “oh, cool” reaction has faded a bit, and I’m now wondering “what’s the value”? I’m al about transparency and citizen media (insert your favorite term here), but I’m curious how any meaningful content is going to net out of this?
i have to give props to these guys for trying it.
Chris Pirillo calls “…all these new video streaming things like Ustream.tv and Stickcam and the microblogs like Jaiku, Twitter the “narcissystem.”
Bill Johnston 
3 responses to “Just becuase you can…”
I think the key is going to be the development of some kind of real-time Digg to tell people when something interesting is actually happening. Let’s face it–most people’s lives are only fitfully interesting!
The other thing I predict is the Ustream will end up getting used more for scheduled shows and other structured content than Justin.TV-style “lifecasting.”
–Chris Yeh (Ustream investor)
My first reaction was that Justin.tv might be mildly interesting at first but it wouldn’t have any lasting value. Just yesterday I had a differing thought. Could “always on” personal feeds of ordinary people change our perception? What if someone in Darfur or Tehran had a personal feed of their daily life? Could this enable us to “walk in another’s shoes” and grow in understanding and compassion? Just a thought…
Interesting points Chris. I’m curious if folks will sift through the mundane content of a video stream to find the interesting stuff… probably. That is what Digg facilitates for the rest of the web.
Sarah: Awesome comment! If a video stream allowed the rest of the world to “bear witness” to important but un/under-reported social issues. That would be awesome… and socially valuable. And the empathy created by the first person POV would be valuable… now this is getting very interesting!