This goes beyond live streaming video. That’s why it’s called a lifecast. Or at least that’s the term dubbed by Justin Kan, a recent Yale Grad who despite the seemingly frat boy spring break nature of his idea (expose your life 24/7! Then get trashed!) has a pretty interesting project with Justin.tv.
Justin was actually behind the calendar startup, Kiko.com, one of the first ajax based calendar sites launched in the early web ?.0 days, and his transition into entertainment (and reality at that ) may seem rash if not for his background.
The idea of lifecasting has some merit… that’s if you cast a compelling character. It takes about 10 seconds to figure out Justin is simply not extroverted enough to make the phenomena of lifecasting work as pure entertainment. Find a struggling coke addict and partner him up with a pimp then you may have something. Or you can just lifecast Flavor Fav.
The idea may have some business potential if married to an independent HSN (Home Shopping Network) type of service. I’m imagining middle America mothers in Waterloo, Iowa pawning hideous sweaters for their son-in-laws to like-minded middle America mothers. A live, indie sort of HSN. Better yet marry this service to Ebay transactions then you’re onto something.
Regardless, I had the opportunity to visit this reality 2.0 phenom in San Francisco on assignment for MTV News.
MTV News Segment on the 24/7 World of Justin.TV
Funny, as I do more of these I’ve come to realize terms like “web culture” and “web news” are likely incongruous. After all the “infinite” web houses all subcultures and news topics theoretically. Designating a culture out of web phenomena is akin to creating a culture out of the UN. I think the segment should be called “hey look at the way these guys are using the conversational medium that is the web.”
Beats “web beat.”
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