I came across wetoku (still in private beta but we have invites for you so keep reading) at a time in my life when I was in need and the folks there helped me. It isn’t some kind of a support group or counseling service. It isn’t a friend for the friendless or a resource for free groceries when you’re down on your luck. I was not in that kind of need.
I’m a blogger, and as such, I am in need of a way to reach out to others while being interesting to readers. Wetoku can help!
Wetoku offers a simple way to meet someone online, record the meeting (or interview) and then share it with others. You may use it for video chat, conduct online interviews, etc.
Our Makeuseof authors have touched on several video chat type offerings that can help with online interviews (Tokbox, Eyejot, and Gmail’s video chat features). Well, wetoku makes meeting face to face with someone far away even easier. We’ll see how easy it is later in this article.
Wetoku takes simplicity to a whole new level. You login, set-up the interview, invite the interviewee, and hit the record button. It really is that easy!
Oh, and the simplicity doesn’t stop there! Sharing the video meetings/interviews with others involves all of just copying and pasting embedding code! Basically, you meet the person, hit record, hit stop, and the code pops right up! Copy and paste it like you would a YouTube video (or some other video sharing site) and there you go!
I would personally like to see some more options on the sharing end of things. I would like to see the ability to download the file for safe keeping AND for sharing on other social video sites like YouTube. They are still working on things, and from what I can tell, they seem to be listening to feedback, so there’s still hope!
Setting up an account is really simple. Just sign up with the invitation code you were provided with (see the end of this article to get one). Once signed up and logged in, you’ll want to click the “start your interview” button and enter the information for the new online interview, including title, names and a description. Once that’s all set up, you’ll be faced with a cool invitation link which you promptly send to your interviewee anxiously awaiting the online interview:
You have to allow your camera to be detected, nothing new to web-based webcam operation. Once you and the interviewee are both on, the video will look similar to this (only with much prettier faces, I’m sure):
The round button is the record button. There is also a nifty little settings panel. I think that only pro accounts have the option of the higher quality videos (I tested the differences of quality and there is a difference).
You can also change the volume of the microphone:
When you’re done recording, you can choose to redo it or publish it and you’re given the embed code. It’s that easy! When finished, you’ll have an online interview similar to this one conducted by wetoku Dave of Rick Calvert, CEO of Blogworld and New Media Expo:
And that’s just about all there is to it. With wetoku you can compete with the other “talking heads” out there, talking and interviewing people from all over the world!
Like I mentioned in the beginning, wetoku is a new company and they are still in private beta. They gave us 200 invites to share with you all! If you’re interested in an invite, just toss me an email timlenahan[at]makeuseof[dot]com with the EXACT phrase “wetoku invite” in the subject line (these emails will be filtered by the subject line so it must be exact or you may be overlooked) and I’ll email you an invitation code. First come first serve!
Check them out! When you do, let us know your thoughts in comments. And in case you’re familiar with some other tools to conduct video interviews share them with us in comments.
