2 Hot Video Apps Take Facebook by Storm

by Christopher Freeburn | April 13, 2012 12:26 pm

Facebook is driving a rush of new users for video sharing apps. Standouts include apps like Viddy and Ustream, which integrated their services with Facebook’s Timeline feature.

Viddy is seeing a major spike in users[1], according to VentureBeat. The app now boasts 4.5 million users — adding 300,000 new users on Thursday alone. Viddy secured $6 million in investor financing in February, bringing total outside investment to $8.2 million.

The Los Angeles-based company is one of a number of startups looking to replicate the success of Instagram, the photo-enhancement app maker that was snapped up by Facebook[2] in a deal worth $1 billion this week.

Viddy currently ranks ninth on the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) App Store list of leading free apps, and is second only to Instagram among photo/video apps. Viddy apps for Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG[4]) Android and Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT[5]) Windows mobile plaforms are in the works.

VentureBeat points out the Viddy’s rapid rise can be attributed to its use of Facebook’s Open Graph platform, permitting integration with Facebook’s Timeline feature. This makes it easier for users to share videos with Facebook friends.

The road to success wasn’t completely smooth. Slashgear reported that the Viddy app was briefly pulled[6] from Apple’s App Store in February after complaints about adult video streaming.

Viddy isn’t the only app to benefit from Facebook’s Timeline. Live video service Ustream doubled the number[7] of users signing up for the service — now 20,000 a day — after integrating its app with Timeline, VentureBeat said. Now, Ustream users can share videos watched on Ustream with their Facebook friends, allowing large numbers of people to watch and comment on videos at the same time.

Ustream says it received 10 million Timeline video sharing impressions during the first week the app — available for iOS and Android devices — was released. The Timeline integration has proven so successful that Ustream says it will soon integrate its Social Stream app with Timeline.

Endnotes:

  1. a major spike in users: http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/12/viddy-users/
  2. snapped up by Facebook: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/facebook-and-instagram-the-picture-worth-a-billion-dollars-aol-msft/
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  5. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT
  6. briefly pulled: http://www.slashgear.com/viddy-app-pulled-from-app-store-over-adult-content-24215216/
  7. doubled the number: http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/12/ustream-growth-facebook-timeline/

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