SOMEWHAT FRANK

Jabbits For Video Answers

We all have questions at one time or another and there are number of question and answer sites like Yedda, Yahoo Answers and Askville that facilitate a simple transaction between a user, who asks a question, and the web  community, who attempts to provide an answer. Jabbits offers this same transaction but answers are provided by the web community in video format thus adding a rich experience to answers.

Some of Jabbits video answers could draw comparisons to those provided by VideoJug, a site that offers solely "how to" videos, but Jabbits question options are more open-ended thus offers a wider array of video options. Jabbits takes a question and answer site to the next level by providing rich media answers but Jabbits video sharing options were a little disappointing. For example, I could not find a way to embed an video into this article so you have to go back to the site to view video questions and answers. Unfortunately, video response also do not offer permanent links to enable linking directly to specific question and answers either. So without these two options it is very difficult to share any of the content. To the disadvantage of the product, Jabbits in not leveraging the viral benefits of video on the web.

Bottom-line: Jabbits is a user-driven question and answer site that offers answers in video format.

A Look Back At 2006

It has been a great 2006, as Somewhat Frank has offered up over 400 articles which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. I thought it might be interesting to reflect on some of the best of 2006 as we look forward to 2007. Here are some of the most popular articles:

1. Facebook Redesign Angers Students Over Invaded Privacy (September  6, 2006)
2. VideoJug: The Online 'How To' Video Site (December 28, 2006)
3. Why Isn’t Internet Access Free For Travelers? (November 27, 2006)
4. The History of the Personal Homepage (September  3, 2006)
5. Widgets Live! Everywhere (November 11, 2006)
6. Philanthropy Through Technology (October 18, 2006)
7. Kiboze: Group Text Messaging Made Easy (August 12, 2006)
8. RunFatBoy.net and Get In Shape (September 26, 2006)
9. 37signals Preaches "Less" For Success (April 29, 2006)
10. PlentyofFish.com the Craigslist of Dating (March 25, 2006)

Most of the traffic to Somewhat Frank came from:

1. Google 
2. Digg
3. Direct or RSS feed
4. Yahoo
5. Technorati
6. MSN
7. Techmeme

The top web 2.0 keywords which brought visitors to Somewhat Frank were:

1. web 2.0 directory
2. web 2.0 compliant
3. web 2.0 widgets
4. wine web 2.0
5. how to start a web 2.0 company
6. web 2.0 aggregator
7. web 2.0 sites
8. web 2.0 techniques
9. web 2.0
10. learning web 2.0

Some of the top overall keywords that brought visitors to Somewhat Frank were:

1. frank gruber (no big surprise here)
2. plentyoffish.com
3. green monster games
4. moobella
5. goodsearch
6. like.com
7. somewhat frank (another shocker)
8. devilfinder
9. myheritage
10. chalksite

Finally, let's take a snapshot look at where Somewhat Frank readers came from (click the map to see a larger view):

Alas, Somewhat Frank is a global destination. Thank you all for reading and interacting with Somewhat Frank in 2006 and be sure to tune in for more in 2007.

Happy New Year from Somewhat Frank!

VideoJug: The Online 'How To' Video Site

There are a number of Q & A web sites, like Yahoo Answers, Yedda and Grupthink among others, that have recently emerged to embrace a large number of users looking to get their questions answered. VideoJug takes a slightly different approach to helping people to find answers online. VideoJug is a video web site with International, UK and US versions, focused on helping to explain life in 'how to' videos. VideoJug helps to answer questions like:

How to tie a full windsor knot?
How to perform the perfect golf swing?
How to conceal bags under your eyes?

VideoJug produces several of the videos itself but also offers users the ability to upload their own 'how to' videos. VideoJug 'how to' videos are accompanied by a transcribed version of the instructions which can be uploaded to an iPod 0r printed in text version. Videos are categorized into a number of different categories which all offer RSS feeds of the content. Registered users are offered the ability to save their favorite videos. VideoJug viral hooks include the ability to share videos via email and embed videos into other sites (as shown below in the How to Make a Mojito video).

Bottom-line: If you are trying to figure out 'how to' do something new you might want to search VideoJug for some visual directions.