Directly after Invision.tv's demo, another startup with a similar goal presented: ffwd (pronounced "fast forward"). Like Invision.tv, their web app also offers you a way to browse through internet video from one portal - the site at ffwd.com. However, their take on how this browsing should look and feel is a bit different. Which one will you like better?
With ffwd, the idea behind the app is to create an online version of a TV remote control. No, it doesn't look like a picture of your remote on the screen, but the way you can click a button to see new channels is reminiscent of the TV channel surfing experience.
At first glance, the site appears to be much more "Web 2.0-ish" than their competitor, Invision, but I've heard others who think Invision had the better app. But where Invision.tv's site can seem a bit busy, ffwd's is simple and easy to use. It doesn't look like you would need to read any "getting started" instructions to start using ffwd.
A Personalized Channel on ffwd
On ffwd, there are tons of channels to choose from. Some may be dedicated to your interests (music, celebs, sci-fi, travel, etc.). Others may be web shows you enjoy (Ask A Ninja, Onion News, Boing Boing TV). There are even channels dedicated to TV shows you like, and like Invision, support for Hulu means you have access to viewing full episodes here.
ffwd TV Show Channel
However, where ffwd differs from Invision is in its recommendation engine. Although both use their own proprietary algorithms to learn what sort of content you like, ffwd lets you kick start your recommendations thanks to FriendFeed integration. After syncing the service with FriendFeed, you can help customize channels by pulling in data from iLike, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your Netflix queue. Why they won't just parse all of the data in your FriendFeed is unknown, but perhaps they'll support a few more services later on. For example, it seems only natural that grabbing your Last.fm likes from FriendFeed would make sense. Then ffwd could help you find relevant music videos based on those artists.
FriendFeed Integration
Still, even partial FriendFeed integration kicks it up another notch above Invision.tv, and since it appears that they support most of the same channels that Invision does, it may come down to personal preference. I found that I prefer ffwd, but I'm curious what you think.
Comments
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This could be a viable model if it "appears" to give more content to the user. It certainly sounds like a more familiar than clicking on differnt pages for each video. If the content is there and the social side of it grabs people, then they may be onto a winner.
That's a lot of If's, or course.
Posted by: Baz Anderson | September 9, 2008 8:32 AM
"...where ffwd differs...is in its recommendation engine. Although both use their own proprietary algorithms to learn what sort of content you like"
So it just matches the title, keywords, and tags of web videos to the ones you have already watched?
"proprietary algorithms" in action:
1 - You watch Chris Crocker "Leave Britney Alone" video.
2 - FFWD machine reads the tags ( plain text ) of other videos looking for "chris croker" and "britney".
3 - Matches appear in your FFWD account.
4 - You yawn
Posted by: Todd | September 9, 2008 10:33 AM
This has a lot of potential to pick on quickly and to make a big impact. Something internet video needs is a more organized way to go through one another videos of content you like in an easy way. To have "channels" for the video will make viewing multiple videos one after another a cake walk.
Craig
www.budgetpulse.com
Posted by: Craig Kessler | September 9, 2008 11:32 AM
To follow up on Todd's point, we at ffwd do things with a little more sophistication than just matching terms and phrases. If you do a search for "chris crocker", you get a number of channels back, and there's a lot more generalization going on than just pulling back the "chris crocker" and britney matches. Those actually come in sixth and seventh right now, behind more general categories like "celebrity" and the kinds of channels where people might be satirizing [faux] celebrity news, like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Sarah Silverman Program. And, yes, the obvious makes sense, too: Chris Crocker and Britney Spears are on the list of recommended channels -- sixth and seventh.
A few months back, a lot of our viewers watched a video called "Leprechaun in Tree!!!" which was a satirical newscast about a leprechaun sighting in an American city. This was a good example of why the usual search paradigms are doomed -- the gist of the video was satire and the humor of different cultures colliding. But you'd never get there from the terms in the metadata. And nobody searching for "leprechaun" -- much less "tree" -- is highly likely to be looking for what this video offers unless, maybe, they knew about this specific video already. So while straight keyword matches sometimes, it fails too often to be the answer. It's not our answer, and as we explore more directions, it will have at best a minor role to play. (But, yes -- if you search on a keyword, or otherwise show that you like a video with that keyword, other videos with that keyword are apt to appear somewhere among those that you'll see in the future.) We think we've done some interesting things to look broader than that, and we have more ways to improve things to roll out in the months to come.
Posted by: John | September 12, 2008 9:06 PM