I love love love @caseyneistat's Snapchat feed, YouTube videos, and Vine videos. It's interesting to see him (a "new media celeb") move into product. I have yet to try the app but it's clear that it's focusing on participation (something @benrbn from Meerkat has talked a lot about and demonstrated with their launch of Cameo.
Here's another article about the app by @MikeIsaac in the NYT.
@rrhoover I wish I could get in and play with it :-) Beme is trying to create a new habit, and usually that's a key for building a meaningful medium. Can't wait to play with it!
@rrhoover Thanks for capturing this! I wonder if they tried other interactions - the two-hand requirement is definitely a weak spot, and an accessibility woe. Perhaps something like the 'kudos' hover target on Svbtle? Though you need the ability to tap to get the rapid fire multi-reactions (I assume that's what we're seeing here).
@rrhoover just tried it out. You definitely have to watch the video above to figure out the basics. Not intuitive out of the box. I'm `mijustin` if anyone wants to hang out!
Have been trying this for the last hour or so and am finding it hopelessly addictive. I think the app will do well - it really just forces you to share the raw moment without the normal positioning that comes with social media. I was skeptical, but the app blew me away.
A quick look:
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/...
@thomasle0n@ow Yeah, the invites are either a queue, or if you know someone you can get a code. Even Casey admitted it's a pain, but I can see how they're using it to try and grow.
Spent a few minutes "beme-ing" my coffee making experience this morning. It's the first time I've felt like I didn't know what I was doing with an app (but not in a bad way). Using the proximity sensor to record is super interesting and I'm sure they'll perfect it. Beme feels really unique, even in its infancy.
If nothing else, I greatly admire @caseyneistat AND his team for trying to bring authenticity, transparency, and imperfection to the social landscape. In a time where we all are guilty of taking 14 photos to find the right one to share, this is a refreshing change.
Also, happy to share unlock codes if people want to send me DMs on Twitter (same username there).
@iwearyourshirt replying to myself.... I'm apparently already out of unlock codes. Here's how you guys can easily find an unlock code:
1. Download the beme app
2. Click to add your unlock code
3. Open Twitter app
4. Search "beme" and view "Live" results
5. Lots of people tweeting unlock codes every 20 seconds or so
6. Copy + paste code into beme
BOOM!
@iwearyourshirt this worked for me—Twitter Live wasn't quite fast enough, a TweetDeck search stream did the trick though.
Smooth invite flow overall, they're using Branch Metrics https://branch.io/ for code tracking and deep link handling.
@iwearyourshirt I took this to its natural conclusion and wrote a small web app that grabs only the latest shared codes and shares them with anyone connected to the app over websockets http://beme.herokuapp.com/
@chrismessina Yes! I'm actually a little disappointed that it's not pronounced that way. For context, "be me" is 4chan slang for starting a story (http://www.urbandictionary.com/d...) which is perfect.
I'm a huge fan of Casey/his films and have been really excited for this unveiling. The interaction of pressing the phone flat to your chest to record is innovative, but also a pretty major flaw if you're a woman aka your chest isn't flat. The whole gesture feels awkward as opposed to effortless. Hard to believe the creators didn't consider this, curious if they've addressed it anywhere?
@allany888 Yep, agree with Casey here. I can make it work, but it's a lot more annoying and the whole value prop of "sharing without having to think" is definitely knocked down a notch.
It's early to make too many big statements about this product and how it could fit into the social landscape, but one thing I like is that it's so distinctly a product by Casey Neistat. The voice and aesthetics are so uniquely him. I don't say that to minimize beme's team's contributions and hard work, but it just brings to mind his videos and individual style.
The other thing I want to give them props for is their unique UI. It'll take a bit before it can really be judged, but they should get credit for building something totally new, and not leaning too much on the UI of existing apps.
I've been following Casey Neistat since the HBO days. His Snapchat and Youtube have always been a ton of fun and I love his style. He's an awesome story teller! Haven't gotten access to Beme yet, but I'm excited to do so if one of my friends gets an invite before me :) Awesome work here, this is such a cool concept!
Just wanted to draw one similarity to this from the apple watch. When I used to visit a new city and needed to get somewhere, I'd open maps to navigate between places. Now, with the watch, I don't have to look at my phone the entire time I'm walking around. I think Beme is doing the same thing here. It keeps you more in touch with the real world while still allowing you to use technology without getting in the way. Very cool!
The proximity sensor as a trigger to record is very interesting. When you watch the video, you can tell Casey, @mhkt and team have thought about the reason for doing so, and not implementing it for shiggles because it's a novel and unique idea. Will be very interested to see if this interaction pattern takes off. Also FWIW, it took Snapchat 4 years to remove tap-and-hold-to-view and change it to tap-to-view. Maybe phone-to-chest/wall/surface will be the next big thing to add a new perspective on video.
The team looks well assembled and very driven! Going to beme and explore! Follow along: jeffsoo
Neat idea, will be interesting to see how this competes against Snapchat. Very disappointing that there's no Android version however - seems like a lot of people are already being turned off of this idea due to that.
@mikeeshattuck that's actually somewhat intentional. The creators of Beme decided to make the UI look like some "under the hood" sort of thing, because the goal of the app is not to look at the UI.
I'm so looking forward to trying this. @caseyneistat is so good at video, so I'm very excited to see what he and the beme team have done. Hope I can get an invite code soon!!
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