This "open YouTube" will eventually allow users to post video from anywhere on the web. It's starting with YouTube, Vimeo and Twitvid videos. Each user now has a stream that can be followed by other users.
What differentiates the follow system from Twitter and YouTube is that users can create topic-specific "subchannels" within their account that can also be followed. They can restrict posting privileges for these channels to just themselves, a small group or anybody.
The "post from anybody" option could be especially handy for brands and celebrities who wish to aggregate videos from a specific event like a rally or a concert. Twitvid already has media celebrities on its services, including Justin Bieber, Al Gore, John McCain, Tyra Banks and LeBron James.
Another aspect that differentiates the new video platform is that it makes everything accessible within feeds. Videos play within streams without opening on another page, and comments appear directly below videos within a stream like they do on Facebook.
"We want this to be a place where you can talk and watch at the same time," Twitvid CEO Mo Adham says, while showing off a comment section that looks suspiciously designed to one day accommodate real-time chat.
TwitVid has no hope of challenging YouTube, which by all measures still leaves other online video sites in its dust in terms of market share. It is not trying to become another website focused on its own uploaded videos. Instead, it wants to be the place where all of the videos from those services can live together in a social setting.
The revamp is actually more of a threat to social web video platforms such as Shelby.TV and VHX than it is to YouTube. But unlike both of these social video players, it's taking a risk by asking users to deliberately add content to its platform. It won't be scraping social feeds for video playlists any time soon.
"You follow a different set of people here than you would on Facebook and Twitter," Adham says.
