“You can watch videos online?!”
I remember the first day I discovered videos online. I was Googling the band Rooney and was amazed that I was able to watch a music video of theirs from my laptop.
This was found a little website called YouTube, and when I returned to school after the summer was over, I thought I would be the coolest kid in sixth grade having this knowledge of Internet videos. To my disappointment, word had already spread throughout the school about the beauty of YouTube.
Plethora of video applications
More than a decade has passed since my discovery, and an abundance of rival sites have sprouted up offering video services. While YouTube, arguably, still reigns as the champ, there is a decent amount of competition on the World Wide Web.
One of the latest competitors, however, is offering something new. The idea is to provide specified videos on demand and the name is Eyethere.
What it is
According to the website, “Eyethere is a mobile platform enabling you to create short form video requests, on demand, and receive specific and personalized content from a pool of crowd sourced video shooters, within a specified deadline.”
“The platform can be toggled between 2 modes; Video “Requesters” and Video “Shooters”. Simply choose your Role and become part of a new and exciting community of video makers.”
Uses and gratifications
The platform’s website offers a video with insight into how the program works. The video features a girl stuck inside on a rainy day.
She opens the Eyethere app on her phone and says, “I wonder what Colorado’s like this time of year.” She then fills out a request form with: location (Colorado), title (Show me a 360), and submits her request. A man in the mountains of Colorado sees the request and shoots a 360 video that then makes its way back to the girl.
The video gives another example of use as two guys sit around trying to figure out the best time to leave for the club they want to go to. One puts in an Eyethere request for the length of the line outside of the club. A man nearby the club shoots a video of the line and sends it back to the requester.
See the world wherever you are
The idea is to give anyone insight to anything around the world. This can be done to aid travel plans, almost like a test drive, or can be done simply out of curiosity.
It can also be used in order to see real-time news events around the world, or to ask for a tutorial on a product. Users who shoot videos can be rated for reliability and quality.
Where it stands
While the website does not specify pricing, each video request costs one “token,” which suggests that there is a cost variable to using the app. Eyethere is still in development and is being created for iOS. Android and desktop versions will be released at a later time.
