They call themselves the "Video Twitter" — their name is 12seconds. The idea is that you can create video from your computer or mobile in 12 seconds and upload it to their site and share it with your friends. VentureBeat and NewTeeVee were able to get into the private alpha version last month.

Today 12seconds moves into public alpha (which still requires an invite??). Some of the new features launching today include a friend search, the ability to send your 12seconds videos to Twitter and a "channel" function which will play videos back-to-back.

Many will compare 12seconds to Seesmic but there really is no comparison. Seesmic is a video message board while 12seconds hopes to be a quick hit and share platform.

I spoke with co-founder David Speiser who explained that the team is bootstrapping it currently but they are looking to raise funding. The founders even bartered items from their homes to help get things the developers were looking for. We also spoke about the fail whale and Speiser noted that they have spent time researching why Twitter has had so many scaling issues in the hopes of not repeating the issues with 12seconds.

Update: Jonathan Fields says: Isn’t that just Utterz with a timecap?

We’ve got a bunch of invites, complete this form to grab one.

Here’s an example video from 12seconds from famous video blogger Veronica Belmont:

Why 12? on 12seconds.tv

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Last week we wrote about the default strategy that FriendFeed currently employs. Today we are back with a video message board Seesmic testing a new default strategy. 

Earlier today, Seesmic community blogger Jeremy Vaught announced that when new users signup to Seesmic, they will automatically receive a set of followers which are considered defaults. The policy would allow Seesmic to setup all new users with the top 30 Seesmic users, as well as the Seesmic staff automatically. The "top 30" would be created by number of videos posted.  

Within minutes of the blog post going live, the Seesmic community reacted and reacted in a strong manner. Users responded both in text on the blog post along with videos on Seesmic. User Deek (video below) says he doesn’t want anyone to follow him unless they want to. Deek’s video is perfect - maybe other startups should watch it and see why defaults are such a bad idea.

CEO Loic LeMeur (a FriendFeed default) has turned off the default feature based on the community feedback. His video is also embedded below. It’s good to see him switch course based on feedback from the community. I can’t tell if the default strategy actually went into place and then removed or if it was just discussed as “coming soon”.

Here’s Deek’s video.

Here’s Loic’s responses - there’s no way to link to the thread but you can watch the thread in the video.

Partner Links
– Free Online Budgeting Software

Multimedia search provider Pixsy will announce tomorrow a new distribution partnership with National Lampoon. Under the terms of the partnership, Pixsy will power a custom branded search within the National Lampoon network of entertainment sites which they self-report at over five million unique users per month. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pixsy and Blinkx (our coverage) seem to be on a crash course for each other in the video search space. Not a week goes by without a Blinkx press release about some new distribution partner while Pixsy seems to have lovin’ from the Valley crowd. Until either one can reach the mainstream audience, distribution deals are key.

Check out our interview with Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin.

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Boston-based online money management tool Geezeo has taken a $1.2 million investment from TheStreet.com. The investment equals a 13% in Geezeo and the company noted that TheStreet.com has an option to purchase the company over the next year based on an equity value of $12 million. The deal also will match Geezeo with Promotions.com (recently acquired by TheStreet.com). This match will allow Geezeo to run more marketing campaigns to push their signup levels even further.

Geezeo’s tagline is, "Educated Financial Decisions." The tools they provide help you to track, monitor and review your finances to keep things in order. With the current state of the economy, Geezeo should be playing up the nature of their tool in helping stretch every dollar. This deal represents more than just an investment by a VC; it will provide significant distribution for Geezeo and increase their membership levels by joining the mainstream and leaving the tech-only market.

The other sites that TheStreet currently operates include: Stockpickr.com, BankingMyWay.com and MainStreet.com. I am curious whether any of the current U.S. online financial tools will expand internationally.

Check out my interview with the Geezeo founders. Other companies in the online money management space include Spendview and Wesabe.

Partner Links
– Web Jobs
– NY Tech Directory
– CenterNetworks LinkedIn Business Group
– CenterNetworks Facebook Fan Page
– Purchase an Apple iPhone

Source:CenterNetworks

Break Media announced a new ROI Council to analyze and determine online video advertising effectiveness and better understand the challenges in measuring ROI for the online video medium. The council members are all large companies and I’d prefer to see some journalists and individual consultants added to the list. Break Media held an event in NYC on Tuesday and below are the notes from the meeting provided to CN by Break Media’s PR agency.

Andrew Budkofsky (SVP of Sales and Partnerships, Break Media) kicked off the event by comparing online video return on investment to a dress code: it’s open to interpretation. This seemed rather apt for the setting of the 21 Club, renowned for its old New York style and strict business attire policy.

Kris Magel (SVP Director National Broadcast, Initiative Media) provided a perspective on the current state of the online video marketplace and opportunities for advertiser. He noted:

• There is an opportunity for high delivery with the online video medium with less clutter; we know it works well even though there is a lot of confusion out there.
• There is an imminent need for industry benchmarks, especially when you get into unique custom content which is much more difficult to measure.
• There is tremendous opportunity for learnings around measurement through segmenting out different kind of video delivered on the Web, including full length video with mid roll ads and in-video interactive overlays or skins. How can we know how ads perform on Hulu compared to Yahoo?
• The measurement of engagement has to be conducted by a neutral third party; digital advertising has to add value to the overall package and enhance the experience for consumers and advertisers.

Jason Valentzas (VP of Consumer Marketing, truTV) provided insight into how truTV is navigating the online video marketplace

• Jason provided an example of the Beach Patrol Webisodes, which follow recruits trying to become lifeguards. He showed how truTV was able to ascertain that the program delivered strong ROI, 2x the value invested, through working across different channels such as Yahoo, MSN and Break.
• Jason highlighted the important of content seeding across video sharing networks and how user commentary helps drive interest.
• Jason also noted that they found shorter clips had higher viewing completion rates but longer clips had higher CTR. Right now they are focused on trying to get tune-in and driving awareness so shorter clips garner more views.
• In terms of gaps and challenges, Jason highlighted the need for: better third party tracking, tie backs to linear network acquisition & retention metrics.

Matt Culter (VP of Marketing & Analytics, Visible Measures) discussed core metrics to gauge ROI in online video:

• Matt provided a sample 30 second ad made for TV but that was pushed out online. On this video he asked the audience to predict the highest points of engagement. Then he showed how and where actual engagement was happening and where people were rewinding compared to actually leaving site. Initial abandonment is on average 30%, so he stressed the importance of the opening of an online video
• Matt showed how they were able to take engagement curves and captivation to find out what viewers find particularly interesting. Engagement index – how can different ads be compared.

Andrew Budkofsky (SVP of Sales and Partnerships, Break Media) along with Keith Richman, (CEO of Break Media) provided details on its newly formed Online Video ROI Council.

• Andrew highlighted the charter of the council, which is to better understand advertising ROI in online video through research and the sharing of experience, as well as to develop more reliable metrics.
• Keith and Andrew noted the action plan includes uncovering media buyers and perceptions of online video ads, along with sharing lessons learned and providing a higher level of accountability.
• The future of what the council is expected to bring was also discussed, which includes: expanded use of quality metrics, a deeper dive into online video ROI and a study of high involvement versus low involvement.
• Andrew also noted how advertisers, brands and vendors can be involved through joining the council and attending quarterly meetings to discuss campaigns, conduct their own research and work with other council members to establish standards.

Magnify.net has launched a new widget based on the new YouTube API today at the April NY Tech gathering named VidyUp. I’ve embedded the video demo below. The idea is to bring in sites who aren’t interested in the full Magnify suite but rather want an entry ramp to get videos from site visitors onto their site.

You install the widget, users can then upload videos into YouTube and they appear on your site. It’s pretty slick and I am guessing we will see more of these type of widgets coming from developers using the YouTube API in the near future.

Check out the printer we used for our business cards:

This morning I sat down with Yoav Ilan at the ‘Bucks to discuss his new startup, SeeToo. SeeToo is a peer-to-peer social video service which lets you share a video with a family member or friend in a real-time environment and chat as well. Yoav believes that some videos aren’t meant to be shared on a public stage and sometimes you want to share the video and walk someone through it. We took a look at his new baby crawling on the floor and he spoke about how he shares the video with his parents in Israel and they can see their grandbaby crawl and chat at the same time.

So here’s how the service works. After signing in, you select your video to share. SeeToo processes the video which takes seconds. Then you send the link to the video to your friend or copy it into IM. The other person joins in and the video syncs and you watch the video together. You can annotate the video by clicking on it and chat as well. The other person can take control and do the same things.

We tried videos over 500mb and they were ready in 15-30 seconds. The video plays using streaming from one pc to another pc - SeeToo stores nothing. In addition, the other party saves nothing as well. Yoav says it’s much faster than uploading the video to a sharing service which could take hours (I agree).

Some comparisons will be made to Seesmic but they are different. Seesmic has simplified video sharing and SeeToo has simplified video interaction and collaboration. They have raised about $1 million from several people including Israeli investor Yossi Vardi.

We spoke briefly about the business plan but Yoav asked me not to post the details. He’s also got some interesting expansion plans for the product as well coming in 2008.  

It seems like a fun service and useful as well. I could see future expansion into B2B for product sales and more immediately usage with military members sharing videos with loved ones back home. Closer to real interaction than uploading a video to YouTube. The interface is simple and could probably use some more color and life — perhaps they are holding that part back while in beta?

If you’d like an invite to the beta, use the code ‘centernetworks’ and visit SeeToo.

We reviewed Seesmic last week and described it as, "a video sharing service just like YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, etc. The difference is that Seesmic has stripped away much of the "extras" that come with the other services. Almost every video sharing service allows for web cam uploads, Seesmic just seems to make it easier."

Getting an invite to Seesmic is harder than finding a name for your new Web 2.0 service. Luckily I located founder Loic Le Meur in Paris and after feeding him several rasberry and cod crepes and after forcing him to walk up the Eiffel Tower blindfolded, he agreed to give me some invites. You see what lengths I go to for the CN reader?

We’ve got six (6) invites to give away. Want one? Leave a meaningful comment below that includes the word 2008 in it. Codes gone.

In case you missed it the first time, here is my demo video:

It appears that Jakob Lodwick has left Vimeo. Valleywag believes he was fired, some say he quit. Who cares why. It’s not like his next startup is going to do a background check. Liz says that Jakob remains an investor in the company.

The real question is what happens to Vimeo and Jakob now. Let’s take Jakob first. My bet is that he appears on the payroll of Tumblr within ten days. A secondary option is some new startup based on video combined with love lessons with his girlfriend Julia Allison.

Vimeo is another story. In my opinion, Jakob was the "icon" of that site and depending on whether he still participates in the community will determine where the site goes. I compared Viddler and Vimeo recently and believe both sites have great potential in front of them. Both rely on their communities for growth and virality and with Jakob gone, those characteristics take a hit. Will people still lip dub now that he is gone? Sure, but he seemed to lead that charge on the site. Will the community fall apart without him? Not sure, but it might be the right time for another player to make an offer to the Vimeo community.

When I think about joining a startup, Vimeo would be one I would seriously consider as the community is strong and their technology is moving forward past the current leaders.

Last night was a gridiron match between the Cowboys and the Packers - both teams that some have selected to win this year’s Super Bowl. But for the majority of U.S. households, we were not able to watch the game because it was shown on the NFL Network. The NFL Network is currently only available on satellite. There is some fighting going on between cable, satellite and the NFL about whether cable will carry the NFL Network and of course it is about dollars.

Currently there is some NFL coverage on the Sprint mobile network but it’s not real-time game streaming. Verizon has some kind of streaming but you must have DirecTV or Verizon Fios TV as well. So to me it’s more of an add-on, not a stream.

The last week of the season features the Giants vs. Patriots and it could be the perfect season game for the Patriots. However, it’s on the NFL Network only. So the largest market in the country will basically be blacked out from viewing. ArmchairGM has put together a petition to allow the game to be streamed on the Internet. I’ve signed it. They include in the petition, "It is the ultimate solution for the NFL. Give the customers a taste of what we’re missing. Propagandize all you want during the 30-second commercial breaks. Sell highly targeted ads to DirecTV, Dish Network, Sprint, and other strategic partners. Show us why "IWantMyNFLNetwork." Do it for the League. Do it for the Network. Do it for your customers."

I agree but what about if the NFL was to stream every game online? Take micropayments for each game - say $2.99 per game and let me watch whoever I want. I know that the Sunday Ticket package was supposed to do that but again, it’s locked to DirecTV. What’s great about this idea is that it could bring fans together as well. It could be streamed Ustream-style with the chat window and maybe Viddler-style commenting would allow fans to provide video comments as well. Even taking it a step further, fans could become commentators and I could tune into a fan station if I choose. What an online experience that would be.

Personally I enjoy watching the games, but don’t care about the recap shows and so online streaming would work great for me.

Now of course, this model would work well for any major sport - and Nascar as well. With this type of offering plus Hulu and Joost, one might never need a cable box again.