Would You Do ooVoo?

Just finished a multi-party online/conference conversation with Jeff at Green Options media where Shaping Youth will have a presence as part of their media analyst/cadre of journalists adding to their amazing stable of niche blogs spanning ten sustainability offerings in the ‘green sphere.’

I was thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could all see each other in our different time zones to meet everyone on the team in this one call?”

Voilà . Now you can…with ooVoo free video conferencing for up to six people at once!

As serendipity would have it, Scott Monty, one of my fellow co-authors in the Age of Conversation (second edition coming soon!) had just e-blasted our group today that ooVoo (one of his clients at crayon) was launching a cool ooVoo event for marketing bloggers, Feb. 10 – 21, 2008.

I checked out their site, latest launch release, and their blog, and could quickly see how it would translate to kids and families just as easily as a business conference capacity. Though the demo videos took awhile to load (it’s still in beta testing) human contact and family fun is a given here…guaranteed.

Traveling parents away on trips could touch base with the whole family, from bed time tuck-ins to homesick college frosh…

The teen scene of ‘what are we gonna do this weekend’ could pull the pack together onscreen fast instead of IM-ing and pinging cellphones at all hours ad infinitum…

And my favorite…you could replace those big occasion “pass-around the phone” events where the conversation is repetitive and mind-numbingly redundant as ol’ Aunt Betty gets to ‘hear your voice’ once a year..Now she can SEE you, real time, face to face.

If you don’t have a webcam, but still want to be heard you can use audio only and plop in a cute avatar, while still seeing everyone else…(looks like it works on either PC or MAC too)

More viable uses?

Check these Shaping Youth thoughts on ooVoo use:

How about: Busy parents that can’t carve out the time to meet in person but still want to share ideas and contribute to passion projects, committees, or school functions…

Homeowner associations that can’t get an informal quorum to save themselves…Business allies that want to discuss one main topic w/scattered proximity…BlogHer buddies you’ve never met in person but always wanted to talk to…I can think of a gazillion uses!!

Ahem…says the former journalist with a webcam that never uses it cause she hates the spotlight and loves her privacy…

Anyway, for the ‘digerati’ who DO like the spotlight…

They’re promoting a cool ooVoo event of “digital luminaries” to benefit the very worthy Frozen Pea Fund (breast cancer prevention) all week where hotshot marketing bloggers can sign up to video chat in a true conversation rather than back & forth comments and e-mails, while trying out the service at the same time.

The event, called “My ooVoo Day With…” is described as:

…”A week-long experiment in blogger to fan interaction. Notable bloggers from across the ‘sphere will host interactive conversations on hot topics, facilitated by the multi-person video chat technology from our friends at ooVoo. Get face-to-face with your favorites and move beyond the post-comment-post world.”

To me that translates to very sharp marketing to get the blogosphere buzzing about a variety of topics, not the least of which is ooVoo itself (complete with countdown timer on the site to give it the feel of a ‘happening’ starting Sunday, Feb. 10 – 21, 2008).

As much as I’d LOVE to sign up for “My ooVoo Day” with all these blog biggies to finally set the record straight with the original context on the whole Target brouhaha/Shaping Youth blog post once and for all, I’m reticent to do so for the exact same reason…

I’m only just now starting to breathe again from firefighting the flamers that didn’t take the time to research and fact check Shaping Youth’s original editorial context.

If it’s one thing I’ve learned in the last week of media madness it’s that the “Age of Conversation” can go ‘off target’ and you can’t control squat no matter how many arrows you add to your quiver to try to redirect the misinformation!

It’s much easier for assumptions and labels to be ‘hung at a glance’ based on the NYT ‘capsulized’ coverage than to accurately reflect the initial reporting as it appeared on Shaping Youth.

Still, this ooVoo tribe might be a fun way to show that social media’s speed, accuracy, and nuanced analysis can raise the bar of knowledge beyond mainstream media’s column inch-space…

After all…what you leave OUT in edits is often as important as what you leave IN when it comes to journalistic framing and context.

Hmn…I kinda like that as a theme:

How can “totally wired” media help clarify the conversation?

Is it possible to take the Windex to a lens that’s been blurred? Or does it take refocusing the camera altogether?

They say, “If you’ve ever misinterpreted an email or blog comment, you know why we love ooVoo. What’s human interaction without the human? That’s the question that drove us to develop a multi-party online video communication tool. We bring people together with all the facial expressions and voice inflections that make communication personal. What better way to meet the bloggers you read everyday?”

Um, yeah, well, lately, MY facial expressions and voice inflections have not been ‘web-cam’ material dealing with some of these yahoos that like to use the ‘over-reacting’ paintbrush to spatter the entire canvas of global dialogue and splash it with trivialization to ‘one ad’ instead of the much larger objectification story that wraps up kids in surround sound..

I’ve chosen to ‘move on’ from the get go, but it’s like the story that won’t freakin’ die…

It keeps coming back in new forms…from contests to customer service cues to texting teens…

…So, do tell…should I dare ooVoo? Would you?