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Video Chat and Social Media: A Formula For Success? Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:39 PM PDT The social media industry is worth billions of dollars, and there are still plenty of opportunities for new players to succeed. For example, LinkedIn’s IPO immediately skyrocketed at its public launch, increasing more than 80% to $86 a share. Social Media Video chat has also become increasingly viable in the last few years as digital cameras become increasingly cheap and affordable and Internet speeds become faster. There is growing evidence that the combination of social media and video chat could be a formula for success. A number of video chat programs have cropped up in recent years, offering a variety of formats and services. Skype’s video chat, one of the earliest popular video chat programs on the market, can do one-on-one chats through its dedicated OS-specific applications. Skype video chat is available for the iOS platform, making it one of the premier options for mobile video chat. Chatroulette is another video chat service, albeit one with a more unconventional format. It pairs random strangers across the world for one-on-one video, audio, and text chats. At any point in the conversation, either user can choose to leave, and both of them will be automatically connected to other users. This format encourages a lot of interesting, irreverent, and sometimes randy or antagonistic behavior. Tinychat offers a more traditional experience similar to YouCam’s but centralized on the Tinychat site, with more control over the experience. Like YouCam and Chatroulette, it enables users to communicate in groups with text, voice and video chat. It contains thousands of channels and the ability for users to create their own on almost any topic and category they wish. Channels are moderated by their creators and anyone else the creator deems able. 360mate is a tentative step towards the integration of social media and video chat. It is a Facebook app that allows for public group chatting with all 360mate users, as well as one-on-one chats with people in the user’s Friends list. Public mode can be toggled on and off. However, there is little moderation. There are several dilemmas that these video chat platforms face. Some of them allow for safe, private communication between people who already know it each other, but do not have any opportunity for people to meet new people. Others make it easy to meet new people, but also subject the user to potential rudeness, harassment, and even nudity. They include little way to regulate users or hold them to certain standards. Also, with the exception of 360mate, they offer no integration with existing social media platforms. One newcomer to the video chat market aims to fix these problems. It is called Natter, and it connects it's users via a Facebook login and combines elements of social networking and video chat. It dubs itself “The webcam site for polite people to make new friends.“ Users can earn Natter Points from being rated by other Natter users. Users with a high level of points earn the ability to regulate users who are abusing the rules. This self-policing systems eliminates the need for moderators and keeps users relatively safe. As video technology becomes more available, people may want to increase the immersion of their social media experiences with features such as video chat. This brings a more human element to online communication and is more inviting to users who have not had much experience communicating online. Sites such as Natter may point to a promising future in the integration of video chat with social media. Guest Author: This is a guest article by Richard who writes on tech, social media and emerging trends. Like Richard, you can also write for us and be famous!

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