Wetoku: Record on a Webcam & Embed, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

Written by Jolie O'Dell / July 21, 2009 7:30 PM / 9 Comments

This post is part of our ReadWriteStart channel, which is a resource and guide for first-time entrepreneurs and startups. The channel is sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark. To sign up for BizSpark, click here.

This evening, we've been testing a groovy new startup site called Wetoku. It allows you to almost instantly record and embed video in blog posts such as this one.

Although the sound and video quality are not yet stellar, we're very impressed with the concept. This is the kind of thing that would make remote, instant video journalism possible. Click a link, speak your peace with another webcam user, end the recording, and you are presented with an embed code the second the recording is over. Read, watch, and get registration code info at the end of the post!

Here's one of the first tests with affiliate marketer Robert Sterling of Richmond, Virginia:

And here's a chat with New York IBMer Mauricio Godoy:

No review of a new Internet video service would be complete without commentary from the godfather of video blogging, Steve Garfield:

As mentioned, we'd like to see better sound and audio quality, and there are a few site bugs. But we'd also love to get a simple, in-browser video editor to clip the ends of recordings or even merge two separate recordings together. Better yet, we'd also like to see a downloadable format so the chats can be pulled into a desktop video editor and remixed with other media, as well.

As for the embedding part, we'd like to see more customization options, especially for colors and sizes. We'd pay for that, and also to see a version without the Wetoku watermark in the top right corner. Other features we'd pay for include preroll and postroll, for branding and recommendation of other videos, respectively.

The folks we tested the site with pointed out the similarity to TinyChat. In terms of ease of use - this, too, is the ultimate one-click webcam experience - the two services are quite similar. However, TinyChat videos disappear second by second, never to be seen again unless the user in question has a pro account. Will Wetoku recordable, embeddable video chat be a free service? What do you think of the concept so far?

We have a limited number of registration codes for the private beta. If you're interested in testing the site, please email jolie@readwriteweb.com and include a link to your blog.

Microsoft BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. Click here to apply.

Comments

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umm. I like the concept but the execution is certainly not ready for primetime. The flash video player is heavy for the size and loads very slow for its size too. The resolution is bad, sound quality is bad and it goes out of sync at times.

But the idea is sound if they add more valute to it while keeping the UI simple.

Posted by: Avatar X | July 22, 2009 12:19 AM

Recording and instantly embeddable? That in itself is a great feature. But as you guys mentioned, the quality is pretty poor.

But really, if you're conducting an interview online, this is a great resource to have. Even if you don't post the video on your blog, you can use it as a recording tool. It will be interesting to see where this little concept goes and how it will improve over time. It has potential, but for now it needs work.

Posted by: Matt Harrington | July 22, 2009 6:16 AM

I know a way to build exactly the same thing but for audio clips.

– Just using your web browser 2 or 3 or more people could jump onto a web page and record their headset/microphone the conference call that happens between them with no software required apart from their browser.

Uses a java applet and Asterisk the open source ip-pbx technology. Scalable with about 1,000 simultaneous ends per server.

Does anyone think making this audio available to people as an embeddable audio file has widespread use?

You could do auto pre-inserted audio ads into the audio stream as the revenue model.

I'm just not sure the use case is as viable as video.

Regards,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net

Posted by: Dean | July 22, 2009 6:46 AM

I like it. Keeping it simple, the video will come along.

I think its a little awkward having the entire interaction recorded -should have a quick editing tool.

~J

Check me out at:

http://www.Libertynewsprint.com

Posted by: LibertyNews | July 22, 2009 1:43 PM

@3 - I'd built a little app like that for audio last summer - click, record, get a link to an mp3 (didn't have it specifically embeddable at that point). Didn't see as much compellingness in it after I'd built it as I thought there would be when I was building it. could resurrect it if there was a compelling use case for it.

Posted by: Michael Kimsal | July 22, 2009 7:14 PM

Excellent points, AvatarX. There is definitely a lot of work ahead of us.

Myself and my team owes everyone who has tried out Wetoku a huge debt of gratitude. Thank you!

We'll work hard to make our service increasingly valuable to bloggers and video journalists.

Posted by: Wetoku Dave | July 23, 2009 9:12 AM

Thanks for sharing...I´m just now getting around to using it and am thinking it'll work great for language exchanges (language learners talking from different countries).

Posted by: Benjamin | July 28, 2009 6:12 PM

Instead of relying upon their service doing the recording, why not just record your interview using screen recording software like Camtasia or Screenflow?

Thanks for posting these because I had not heard about Wetoku or Tiny Chat before.

Steve

P.S. There are a couple other sites that offer this type of thing too...

Webcamax.com
Oovoo.com

Posted by: Steve | August 31, 2009 10:46 AM

@Steve, I haven't found other web apps (yet) that will run the video chat and record it on the website itself. Webcammax and Oovoo require software downloading and installing, and that makes it a whole different category.

I am much more interested in the concept of being able to conduct and post video interviews online instantly, like wetoku does, and quality and features will come in time. Wetoku, so glad you're an answer to prayer!

Posted by: djchuang | September 2, 2009 5:41 AM