12SecondsTV – 12 Seconds of Fame (or Infamy)!

Video blogging is nothing new. It’s older than YouTube. Micro-blogging is nothing new either. It’s older than Twitter.

Video-micro-blogging tool 12seconds can be thought of as the best of both worlds. It has a simple-to-use Flash-based interface, but much like its counterpart Twitter limits you to 140 characters, your videos are “video-soundbites,” limited to – everybody, now – twelve seconds. Wow, that’s a lot of hyphens!

Recording a video is easy, assuming that you have either a decent wireless phone, or that your PC’s webcam and microphone work properly. You can also automatically post videos to your Twitter account, provided you have given 12seconds your credentials. Folks, If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then I’m about to earn a fat bonus:

My stepson and I tried it out with a quick video. My wife Heather, along with our baby, Bryan, also helped me test 12seconds. She ended up recording a video that was so adorably spontaneous that (after some protest) I was allowed to post to the public.

My wife, who admittedly isn’t very technically-inclined, agreed on 12seconds’ ease of use. She is also quite the gracious and lovely one. No, I didn’t just say that because she reads everything I type.

The Twitter parallels continue. You can follow or be followed by other users. Public videos are posted on a front-page timeline. Our video was happened upon by another 12seconds user, and he recorded this wonderful response. We loved it.

12seconds has just recently given users the ability to upload videos directly via the Web, as well as download videos made using their recorder. I took advantage of this to post – you guessed it – another baby video. What did you expect? Don’t answer that.

The twelve-second limit forces you to jump directly to the point of your video. No ums or likes allowed here. It’s a nice and simple way for families and businesspeople alike to keep in touch without going through the fuss of co-ordinating a live webcam call, which requires a good deal of memory and bandwidth. With these short videos, a handful of users could hold a conversation, much like – yep -Twitter!

So, with all these similarities, is 12seconds the new Twitter? I honestly do not think that is what they’re going for. The real question: Is 12seconds the next YouTube? With the world’s attention span only getting shorter, it very well could be. Please let us know your opinion in the comments.

12seconds is currently in closed beta, but for our readers, we have your hook-up. The first 100 of you wonderful people who send an email message to makeuseof@12seconds.tv will receive an invitation to the service by the end of the day. If you are too late and you don’t manage to get an invite then come back here and maybe someone will be able to offer you an invite from their account.