In these days of micro-blogging, status updates, life streaming and sites that let you post messages of 140 characters or less, the next step (now that I’ve been introduced to it 
) is an obvious one–video. Recently I was able to get an invite to a new micro-blogging/status update site: 12seconds.tv (currently in alpha).
12seconds.tv picks up where other micro-blogging sites leave off. You still have an avatar to represent yourself, you can still type text, but the main content is 12 seconds of video you post on the site. 12 seconds, no more–no less.
My initial thought when I signed on was that it’s a cool site, but can it translate? After all, some status updates and posts don’t take 12 seconds to digest. Nor do they require you to have a sound card to get the meaning. For example, on my twitter page I can quickly scan a dozen posts for content. If there’s any in particular that catch my eye I can read intently and even respond if I like… all without leaving that particular page. It’s all there in a tight package for me. Efficient use of space.
On my 12seconds home page, I can see the most recent 12 (get the theme here? 
) videos of my friends, and if I rollover the thumbnails, I can see the title of that post and the location where it was taken. To actually digest the post I have to click each individual one. On that page, you can then make comments (a form of reply I guess) on the post if you wish.
It’s not exactly the same thing, but then again, I don’t think it’s meant to be. I’m finding that most of the videos I see on 12seconds are much less ‘random’ thoughts as they are entertaining snippets. It’s not a place for to post “I’m eating a hot dog right now” or “I’m watching the Olympics” (which incidentally, I’m doing ). 12seconds posts take a bit more thought and planning, which is where I think the beauty of the service lies.
Since joining, I’ve noticed that the makers of the site are adding things all the time. My favorite of which is the “challenges”. They issue a particular challenge to the audience and ask them to post. The “winner” gets their video featured on the front page. While I haven’t posted anything to the “challenges” yet, I do enjoy watching them a lot.
I’ve also noticed that people are using the service to tell a longer story 12 seconds at a time. Kind of like mini episodes of a series. In a space like Twitter (or similar service) such posts get mixed in with the clutter and can get lost in the shuffle, especially if there are long periods of time between each post. With 12seconds though, once you click on a post, they make it very easy to view any previous or later videos from the same person.
Overall I’m really enjoying the service. When I was first told of it as being “Twitter but with video” I was kind of skeptical, that is until I realized that it’s not really like Twitter at all. The video’s that get posted by my friends have made them seem closer now. More ‘real’. Not only can I see them (yeah Twitter has Twitpic), but I can hear them too… and that makes the service pretty powerful. Keep up the good work guys! Sorry this post will take longer than 12seconds to read
