Thanks to Jody Gnant, I am now UStreamer. Ustream allows just about anyone to broadcast live video over the Internet and interact in near realtime with connected viewers using chat. In fact, I am LiveStreaming right now. Tomorrow when I am preparing dinner for a couple of guests, I will be LiveStreaming while I cook. I'm also going to record the video and imbed it into my food blog so that later anyone can learn to prepare Chicken Legs with Raspberry Sauce, Bistro style.
Think about it: Ustream lets anyone with a video camera and an internet connection become a live TV broadcast station. Not only that, the video can be recorded so that anyone can view it at a later date. Webinars anyone? (Granted, my video is not production quality, but I am using just the iSight camera built into my MacBook Pro. Soon I will hook up my Sony Handycam and see what it looks like.)
Back to Jody. I was at the Phoenix Social Media Club meeting Thursday night and Francine Hardaway invited Jody to talk about uStream.
Remember Kyle MacDonald who managed to turn one red paperclip into a house through a series of trades? Jody is a local singer-songwriter and traded with Kyle for a recording contract. Jody began LiveStreaming 24/7 during the creation and promotion of her new CD and has since decided to continue. As a result, she has developed a considerable following, with several thousand 'views' per month.
One phrase she said really struck me. Pointing to her webcam, she said, "Those are real people in there." Most of them are enthusiastic fans. Most of them have bought her music.
I don't want to pontificate, but with guys like Robert Scoble and Shel Israel exited about UStream, I think it is safe to say that it is a great idea. I've already got several ideas about using this with some of my clients.
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