This was bound to happen sooner or later, and I am actually very interested to see where this service goes. qik.com is a streaming video live-to-web service that uses the video camera on your mobile phone (limited to certain, but many models) via your mobile internet connection.qik is yet another service in the plethora of those available in the ever-growing social media/web 2.0 space. It is based around a community of users that choose to follow or be followed (similar to Twitter in my previous post) but instead of text or pre-cut video, live video(or once-live but now captured) is the medium. You of course set up a user profile and if people find you or your videos interesting, they will 'follow' you and receive updates via the web, mobile, im and other social sites. qik will even push your video directly to YouTube, can link to your video in your Twitter update feeds, or even post updates here to Blogger.com. This is all achieved via a small bit of software you download to your mobile by sending an SMS (very straightforward.
Sounds a bit scary, since you cannot edit before airtime, but the applications to this are seemingly endless. Plus, if you live in Australia under antiquated mobile data charge schemes (its painful and expensive), your video updates can cost you a fortune. If you are stuck in a scheme like this, best to reserve your video push via a WiFi connection. (update: Optus is changing their mobile data plans to be linked to wireless broadband - $29 for 1 gig per month!)
I am willing to bet everyone's first video looks pretty much the same (a shot of the first test to prove that it works, usually involving a few seconds of looking at a keyboard, then the screen showing your video, then some random chatter)... yawn .... But once you dig through these you can find some fairly interesting content, if not mildly entertaining. Its surprisingly fast, efficient and very easy to use, so the barriers to entry are quite low.
There is a big community push by early adopters at the moment, which always puts an idea/company/infrastructure thorough its paces. So far things are remaining stable and robust which really does continue to impress me, even though the idea is fairly simple. I am willing to bet that qik will be around for some time and probably bought out by a big player like YouTube before too long.
Anyhow I recommend giving it a try, for no other reason that the novelty factor and showing off your keyboard to the world. What you do with it beyond that ... well, it certainly does add a dimension to vlogging, live news reports, showing your new dog tricks online or keeping your overseas family up to date.
Opinion:
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Uniqueness: 3/5
Interest Factor: 4/5
Stability: 4/5
User Experience: 4/5
Longevity: 3/5
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