Keek.com is a new online video sharing community that enables its members to communicate by way of video status updates. Instead of setting itself in opposition to social networking sites, Keek is a complementary force, providing users with a platform that interfaces with websites like Twitter and Facebook to disseminate their thoughts and feelings in video form. According to Keek’s founder and Executive Officer Isaac Raichyk, Keek “is a place where people can interact and build communities through microvideo dialogue which is more informative and fun than traditional microblogging or photosharing”
Keek.com allows users to post short video clips as their status updates—all video clips must be under 36 seconds long, so it isn’t a place where you can post an entire Lady Gaga concert as your provocative thought of the day. However, these so-called “keeks” can be about anything (as long as it is deemed appropriate), from sharing a surprise birthday party moment to a user’s reaction to an important piece of world news. Keek is available as an app for both Android and the iPhone, which will make it easier for users to create and post their own videos whenever the mood strikes. Keek is a video sharing community that caters to those who want to express themselves in more than just words. Think about how often we all struggle to come up with the right way to describe an experience but our words fall short. In the time you spend thinking about how to describe the latest Occupy Wall Street stand-off, Keek will have already shown it to everyone in your social network in its pure video essence.
Keek.com was created on the premise that the online video sharing community will be one of the primary communicative tools of the future. People don’t just want to read what their friends and family have to say—they want to watch it. Videos are an aesthetic experience that can provide viewers with a rich sensory experience of images and sounds, and today’s youth want their thoughts to be bold statements conveyed in screen shots. The rapid pace of our daily lives and global events make visuals a key part of our expressing and understanding what is happening around us. The online video sharing community gives users the freedom to feel like they can really represent who they are, how they feel, and what they experience in an authentic, even holistic way. The online video sharing community is also a connective tissue in a world where family and friends are increasingly torn apart by distance due to work—videos can reconnect and make us feel like we haven’t missed out on our Granddaughter’s birth or our best friend’s birthday. Like all social networking sites, Keek is capitalizing on some very primal human needs: the need for relationships, communication, self-expression, and most of all, the need to be seen and heard. These are the core needs that shape our need for community and now, more than ever, video sharing is a thread that can be used to keep us together.