As someone who tries to get the most out of their day but also likes to take some time and relax with a video or two every once in a while, I’ve been out of luck for a while. There’s a lot of noise out there on social networks, especially since I follow a lot of people on them. If I want to be able to keep up with the latest and greatest of what my friends are sharing, I’ll likely have a lot of digging to do. Because of that amount of digging I’ll have to do, it’s more likely that I don’t do any digging at all.
But this week that changed for me because Showyou 3.0 was launched.
Showyou is the first social video app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch – and now it’s available for those who have the Kindle Fire. I’ve had a chance to play with the iPad version, and I’m very impressed with the time I spent in Showyou and the time I saved using Showyou.
??Showyou allows me to seamlessly wade through the videos shared by firends on a variety of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Vimeo, YouTube, etc.) and keeps me out of those services when I want to watch online videos altogether. I just connect those accounts to Showyou and I am able to search through each and every video shared by those I’m following – and I can also add fellow Showyou users to the mix.
The app has a great sense of responsiveness to it, flowing from panel to panel within the “grid” you’ve composed of the various connections you’ve made. I can add videos to those I enjoy by tapping on the “heart” button, can add a comment by pressing the “speech bubble” button, and share videos to social networks, via email or add them to my “Watch Later” list by pressing the “share” button. To watch videos in full screen view, on the iPad you can spread your fingers out over the video and it makes htat happen. Go back to the default view by pinching the video while in full screen. The user interface is simple to use and the app is gorgeous.
If you also want to be able to watch Showyou videos on a much larger screen than your iPad (like, on your TV, for example), Apple’s Airplay lets you play most of the videos you see – if you have Apple TV 2.0.
You can also drill down further into Showyou in a variety of ways. You can watch shared videos by genre, like Film, Comedy, Music and more. You can follow others by pressing their avatars either while viewing a video in default mode or by looking at someone’s profile and seeing those users on their followers’ list. You can also follow “channels” on Showyou, which opens up your social video experience even further. As you can see, there is plenty of socialization that goes on with Showyou, and plenty of it that can go on outside of it as well. You don’t feel disconnected from anyone you’re following while following them on Showyou – in fact, you’re more likely to catch some of the videos by using this app rather than searching through your very noisy social spaces. Plus, you can share videos as much as you want within Showyou, which allows you to keep your Facebook and Twitter streams a little less noisy for others.
That said, one of the things I’ve been unable to figure out is how to add an image to my profile, which may be because I’m using an original iPad (sans camera) and you need to have an on-board camera to do so. It’d be great if I could simply add a photo of myself from my library, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to do this. I’ve seen plenty of Showyou users with a profile photo, so I know it can be done. I’m just one user that can’t.
I’m a big fan of apps that do “one thing well” and don’t try to do more than that, just focussing on making that ine thing better. Showyou has done – and is doing – just that. Showyou launched in April 2011, and keeps getting better and better, optimizing the user experience in both quality and quantity – a rare combination. In fact, Showyou is the only app of its kind to be picked by Apple as one of the best of the year (Best Social Networking App for the iPad, along with Skype & Facebook); to be featured in the Wired app guide; and to make it onto a variety of “Top 10 apps for the iPad” lists.
Showyou won’t only enhance – and curate – your online video experience, but it won’t break your bank. That’s because Showyou is a free app. You can get it now in The App Store, and if you want to keep up with your consumption of online video, get the best of what those you trust are sharing and not lose time in the process, Showyou will show you a really, really good time.
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
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