« Player 9.0.124 | Main | Buffet vs a la carte »
April 08, 2008
Experiences vs features
Experiences vs features: TechCrunch talks about Flickr Video. I'm more interested in the comments, even though they're noisy. Some people go "Duh, it looks like other [Flash-supported] video players, but doesn't do X!" Others point out how it's video experience which complements the existing experience of visiting Flickr: "The point is video on your photostream. My family visits my photostream, they have Flickr accounts or guest passes, they check it daily, weekly, whatever. Having clips right there for them to see is the beauty of it." Don't worry just about features -- the same feature looks different in different environments. Think about the final use of the application, by a real person in a real environment, instead of just idealized feature sets (much less developmental familiarity). I haven't researched how differently-branded FLV skins handle common UI conventions recently, but there's a strong theme in the TechCrunch comments that the important thing is video within the Flickr experience, rather than just video itself.
Posted by JohnDowdell at April 8, 2008 05:50 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mtadmin/mt-tb.cgi/9355
Comments
I've said it in a few places but it is worth repeating. Add video recording and comments and we have a whole new world that could jump into the Seesmic space.
Posted by: drew olanoff at April 8, 2008 08:49 PM
Is http://www.stickam.com/ feeling froggy?
Posted by: JesterXL at April 8, 2008 10:07 PM
My sentiments exactly. I was going to dedicate an entire blog post on my blog to saying the same thing, but you already have so well done!
It's important for people to realize this isn't a new online video sharing service that will compete with YouTube, but rather, a service that will fulfill one niche that people may use YouTube (or others) to currently satisfy.
Posted by: Ian Mikutel at April 8, 2008 10:14 PM
Well said!
For most users, its the content not the player that matters.
This feature is meant to complete the Flickr service, not break grounds in terms of innovation.
Also, that doesn't mean there won't be improvements along the way.
Posted by: Ice at April 9, 2008 12:33 AM