When watching a movie in a public theater, it’s usually best not to talk. But when watching online videos in your own home, there’s no reason not to, and Joost and Meebo have just partnered to provide a new communication option.
“Channel Chat,” as it’s known, will allow users of the online video service Joost to connect with each other. The especially interesting part, though, is that it’ll allow them to connect with people who are watching the same types of shows; small social networks may arise as a result.
These networks – or any users, really – should provide positive publicity for both Joost and Meebo, the latter of which powers Channel Chat. And actually, since Meebo users can reach people on a number of instant-messing products (including AIM, Yahoo, and Google Talk), there will be few things to stand in the way of the service’s spread.
Yet Jason Jennings writes, “I look forward to seeing these two services integrated and also to see if Joost is able to build a good enough catalog to be worth while for TV fanatics like myself,” and it’s that catalog that appears to act as a barrier.
I was happy, for example, to see Red Green heavily featured on Joost’s iLaugh channel. A Joost search for “Red Green” only yields 41 results, however, while YouTube offers around 15,000. Users will have to decide for themselves if an added chat feature can make up for a deficit of over 10,000 videos.
