stickam – the MySpace for people with webcams
LOL! Like, OMG! ICU….
Yes, I think i’ve found my new home. Stickam.com is a new site I was introduced to yesterday. I don’t know much about it yet, but so far it seems to be very much like MySpace, but even better for people with webcams! It’s extremely easy to jump in to a chat room with several other people (many of whom also have webcams), and suddenly you’re chatting away…. and with most the other bells and whistles you’d expect from a web2.0, social network site.
A few days earlier I had randomly stumbled across TokenBlackChic’s videos on YouTube, and found her to be an absolutely creative genius! Not just in her deep cutting sarcastic humor, but also her amazing marketing skills (whether she is aware of them or not). She posted a video “Bad Girls vlog II” the other day and mentions she’ll be LIVE on stickam. Well, duh… of course I’ll be there. Like which one of her 8500+ subscribers wouldn’t want to see if she is really as quick witted live as she appears in her vids.
Unfortunately, I was having some… uh… technical difficulties with my camera and windows audio settings (I had to go in to the Windows Recording properties change my recording device from “Mono Mixer” to “Mic”), also a set of headphones was important to kill the echo feedback. The bottom line? I missed her show… well… I DID see/hear a lot of it, but I was one of those lurker freaks peeping in from the outside window, unable to participate. — It wasn’t until after the show I realized clicking the magnifying glass icon was the way to get in!?
By now I was hooked! Stickam strikes me as the next BIG thing to take over MySpace (unless myspace adds the cam features which I’ll take about below). I poked around the site more. Looking for other people to join in these webcam chat rooms, and trying to learn more about the set up, and navigation, etc. I think the potential for networking and building relationships is substantially higher on a site like this where live video is involved. Everyone knows facial expressions and tone of voice play a MUCH larger role in communication than text. Yes, I think I’ve found my new home… at least until the virtual worlds take over in the next 5 years.
As for more tech specs on Stickam…. Like I said, I haven’t even been a member for 24 hours yet! So there is a lot I don’t know, but some of the features I like the best are things like the total ease of being able to get your video going live on the net. They have a way you can embed your live feed on any webpage (as shown in the left column of this blog). Unlike YouTube where you have to record and then upload your video separately, Stickam has a way for you to record a video from a link right on the site! I’ve never uploaded a personal video on YouTube . Mainly because it seems like more of a “production”. I know many people do just record and upload, but since I’m a bit more of a perfectionist, I haven’t taken the time.. blah blah… but I’ve already recorded 2 videos (very short) onStickam. Perhaps the reason for that also, is because after spending 9 hours in various webcam chatrooms, talking with people live… it did seem a lot more laid-back , personal.. and more like a COMMUNITY where I felt comfortable just putting out some non-prepared bit of video. In fact, it’s taking me a long time to write this blog post, where i could do it much faster, AND with facial expressions and tone of voice if i just recorded a short video blog (vlog).
Anyway, enough blogging for now. I’m going to try and be LIVE on Stickam as much as possible for a while (weekends excluded – as I’ll be at work), and see how I feel about it in a week or two. Feel free to watch from the cam link on the left column in this blog, or check out my stickam profile… and say HI.
