Faculte, better pitches with better video

Mark Gibbs' Web site tips, plus network applications news headlines

If you want to pitch something, anything, and you want to get the maximum impact then plain old text isn't going to cut it. Flash? Expensive and complicated. Nope, you're going to want to move to video so you can not only tell but also show as well.

Now lots of people turn to YouTube for their video presentations but that's not really a channel for sophisticated commercial delivery, its to consumer oriented and who wants to risk their pitch getting put aside so the viewer can watch banned ads for beer or three remarkably vacuous people discussing first dates.

Moreover, if your video content has the possibility of any kind of monetization then YouTube just isn't going to work. These issues are what the company this week's edition of the Network World Web Applications Alert newsletter focuses on.

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If you want to pitch something, anything, and you want to get the maximum impact then plain old text isn't going to cut it. Flash? Expensive and complicated. Nope, you're going to want to move to video so you can not only tell but also show as well.

Now lots of people turn to YouTube for their video presentations but that's not really a channel for sophisticated commercial delivery, its to consumer oriented and who wants to risk their pitch getting put aside so the viewer can watch banned ads for beer or three remarkably vacuous people discussing first dates.

Moreover, if your video content has the possibility of any kind of monetization then YouTube just isn't going to work. These issues are what the company this week's edition of the Network World Web Applications Alert newsletter focuses on.

The company is Faculte and their eponymous product, currently in beta, is a content creation, editing and delivery system that can produce slideshows, Powerpoint presentations and videos.

Built on Flash the service allows you to upload video and or record it from your Web cam, add slides, audio and documents, select a layout and how changes are executed between clips, and add text, narration and themes. You can also add content from Flickr and Facebook and YouTube support is promised "soon."

When you publish you can make your video public or password protect it and, if public, require registration or payment before viewing (all financial transactions are via PayPal).

You can direct people to your content by e-mail directly from the service or send them a link using your own e-mail as well as embed the video or a Faculte widget on your Web site.

The service works very well and the resultant output and presentation is very slick. You can reorder your clips and pages of content and the only missing feature is the ability to set in and out points for each clip.

My big complaint is that most of the help information and FAQs are slavishly shown through somewhat unprofessional videos. Video is not the fastest way to learn how to use a service like Faculte particularly when hosted by a young lady with a foreign accent who doesn't get to the point quickly and acts cutesy as she does so.

Faculte is currently completely free but in early September a premium service will be launched priced at $50 per month that will allow unlimited viewing of your videos (the basic account limits you to 100 views per month). Premium will also include collaborative features and advanced tracking and security and will allows you to put your own branding on the broadcast.

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.