TNW Quick Hit

ShortForm viewers can subscribe to, or create their own, channels of interest, and enjoy a continuous stream of short video clips similar to watching television. In addition, the site provides a way to discover the best short video clips from around the web.

Enjoyed: Simple for all to get up and running with their own channel. Ability to add videos uploaded to Facebook, the videos of one’s friends, and favorite videos from YouTube.

Annoyed: The process to add videos was not all that swift and could frustrate some users.

Overall: 4/5

The Details:

YouTube is a great way to discover videos on how to do certain tasks, watch videos of any kind imaginable, and with Leanback, is an even better, and easier, way to kill time. There are some issues with YouTube that make a new service, ShortForm, a really neat option for those that enjoy online video.

ShortForm, out of San Francisco with Nader Ghaffari as CEO, along with financing from NetService Ventures Group and IVF, touts itself as,

“a new entertainment medium, delivering endless channels of short videos, curated by our community of VJs.”

One of the grand features of ShortForm is that anyone can be a “VJ” (video jockey). ShortForm users can subscribe to channels that interest them or create their own, and share anything they like with the world.

Getting started is super simple. Enter your name, username, email address, and password. That’s it. Or, if that’s too much for you, sign up using your Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube account.

To make your channel snazzy, and to attract some fans, add a little information about yourself such as a profile picture, website, and more.

After profile creation is complete, jazz up your channel by adding videos you’ve uploaded to Facebook, videos of your friends, and favorite videos from YouTube. Moreover, you can spice up your channel with a slick name, picture, and description, all with the hope that in doing so, you will increase your statistics, viewable on the dashboard created by ShortForm.

My channel doesn’t have any statistics because I am still uploading videos. That is my issue with ShortForm at this point is the video import speed. The process wasn’t swift for yours truly. That said, the channels I’ve subscribed to are really interesting, with the channel below, “Super Cute,” being one of my favorites.

Why choose ShortForm when YouTube is available? There are several reasons. First, the design of the site is top-notch. As a fan of great design, YouTube’s pales in comparison to that of ShortForm. Second, ShortForm is decidedly more social than YouTube. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration make ShortForm a great deal more fun to use than YouTube by itself. Finally, Leanback is still YouTube, but requires less user interaction. Videos from Leanback are chosen at random by one’s YouTube preferences. Conversely, ShortForm allows one to choose videos from a favorite VJ, and watch short clips as long as one desires.

Will ShortForm replace YouTube? No, and that’s the genius of ShortForm. ShortForm allows users to take videos uploaded to YouTube and/or Facebook, and create a music channel or follow channels of others. One can’t upload videos directly to ShortForm like YouTube or Facebook. Therefore, Facebook and YouTube are the repository of one’s videos with ShortForm being a home to custom channels created by users combining the best videos from each service.

Give ShortForm a try and let us know what you think.

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