Vidku

Social Media pioneers Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are all about sharing your life and creating connection. Then Instagram came along and showed that you can share your life through a simple photo or video. It was even more powerful because it was easier for others to see through your eyes. I think now we’re at another inflection point in creating empathy in social media and it is storytelling. Snapchat pioneered the ability to string media together to create a storytelling experience. Stories became more used than sending snaps. And Our Stories are even more powerful when connecting stories curated from multiple points of view. It’s an incredible way to experience life. It’s no wonder Twitter followed the storytelling trend with it’s recent Moments release. I’ve been using a beta of Vidku for a couple of weeks and I’m glad I can now talk about it because I think they also have their thumb on the power of Storytelling. It’s incredibly easy to string together a series of videos to share your story. They have a groups feature which allows you to share these stories to a small private group of friends, or even share an experience around a group focused on an interest. You can add or remove videos as you like. As a viewer, I like that you can easily fast-forward and rewind through videos. Replying is also extremely easy, which is great for communication. My question for the makers: What was the most surprising thing you learned during the beta of Vidku and how did that change the app that was released?

Completely agree with @eric3000. There's something extraordinarily powerful about the mobile video medium and its ability to tell stories that let us experience the world from someone else's point of view. Clearly, companies like Snapchat and Meerkat have harnessed that power in new and effective ways. But to me, as an early user, Vidku stands out in two entirely different and entirely new ways: First, it's nonlinear. Where Snapchat stories are sequential, Vidku stories allow you to explore moments and perspectives organically. It's a Choose Your Own Adventure book in a world of novellas. Second, it's asynchronous. Tools like Meerkat and Periscope are great at bringing far-flung communities face-to-face in real time, but there hasn't really been a "Slack for Video" that lets groups do that across time... until now. Add in the privacy and control factors, as well as a design that is truly a pleasure to use, and I think the Vidku team is truly, unmistakably on to something. Question for the team: where did the inspiration for this product come from? What itch were you scratching?

@eric3000 - thanks for hunting! I’m Chief Design Officer and co-founder of Vidku - I'm excited to have you take a look. We created Vidku because we wanted a way to make and share short, creative videos with our friends and close groups, but also to have the ability to unshare any video, at any time. Vidku is for private videos, the ones we share with the important people in our lives, without having to worry about them being shared outside the app. Add me on Vidku (charlie) and share a video with me - I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also be sure to add Josiah on Vidku (josiah) and he'll get you access to the exclusive PHGlobal group in Vidku. Here's a thank you/preview of the action in the PH Global group! https://twitter.com/design2resea...