June 27, 2007
Any Joe can be Justin in July
Justin.tv, live for 100 days now, expects to make good on its promise to be the YouTube of live video on July 16 when it opens up its service to anyone who wants to broadcast their lives over the internet.
Justin Kan, the webcam-toting star of the eponymous website, has already recruited several others willing to film themselves 24/7, notably Justine, but the next version of the site is for everyone.
"I thought there’s only so much content I can do, I can only be in one place at one time. So the plan is to roll out the platform so everyone can do it," he told us.
"It took YouTube to show it was easy to upload and create a page for your video and I think we are a similar kind of thing."
The new interface will allow users to flip through channels, with the hottest feeds made more prominent by monitoring of network activity and seeing how many "tips" they are receiving from viewers.
Justin expects there to be more rivals to his service soon, along with existing players such as Ustream, Veodia and BlogTV.
"I see it as huge competition, it’s a battle to promote and popularise live video."
Empowering everyone with a webcam should make for an easier life for Justin.
"I actually like having the camera on, I have got so used to it. But it would take the pressure off to always be doing something interesting. I’m excited for the day when justin.tv will one day be replaced by people who are more interesting and charismatic than I am and eventually I will kind of fade away."
There’s more on the justin.tv phenomenon here.
