EyeVibe tears down the walls

I was on hols when the embargo was lifted on the news about EyeVibe - which was a pity because I was itching to share having been given the full grift by YoSpace CTO Dave Springall over lunch a week or so ahead of the launch. I know the team have been working exceptionally hard for a considerable time to do the deals that make this work - and to create the technology.

Disclosure; YoSpace is (now) owned by Bauer, the company I work for and Dave and meet and speak on a semi-regular basis.

So, if you've missed the news, EyeVibe is, at its simplest, the combination of 3 and O2's SeeMeTV and LookAtMe - both mobile video ugc social networks built on the YoSpace platform. Users create the content, other users pay to view it. The creators get paid per view.

Overnight it becomes the single biggest video-based mobile social network in the UK. Not only because it combines too very large ones, but also because this is available off portal, too.

Even if I didn't play for the same team, I'd still be saying this is fantastic. It's fantastic because:

1. It tears down the wall between communities.
2. It offers the opportunity for social networking to experience the same growth as texting and picture messaging experienced when the operators opened access across networks (because they tore down the walls).

Tearing down those walls is important for all sorts of reasons. As I've posted previously:

"...open will always beat closed. So here's another reason: the value of random friends.
"You'll have heard of small world theory, or six-degrees of separation. The reason these are possible is because random friends are introduced to networks - people outside of your usual experience. For example, someone you meet on holiday, or at a party - who opens up a whole series of new connections for you.

"These do not happen when you are in jail...

"Random friends are the parts of your network which allow its value to grow exponentially (see Reed's Law). Remove them and your network has considerably less value."

Now any UK mobile subscriber with a video-enabled handset can share and earn cash from their mobile video clips in one community, no matter which operator they are with.

For the first time members can invite ALL their friends to be part of the same community.

Story so far?
Since the launch of SeeMeTV and LookAtMe!, users have paid for more than 32 million video downloads earning a combined total of over £800,000 for users who have submitted more than 60,000 clips. The services currently generate 28 million mobile page impressions per month.