Start a Video Blog in 5 Minutes the Magnify.net Way

As we have our iTV 21 channel on Magnify.net, it behooves us to report to you on new developments they are rolling out. It also behooves me to find and add the right content we can all learn from. Here is one about a subject as old as the web is: How to drive traffic to your site...



As my experience in setting up our channel and widget proves, we can expect them to deliver great add-on services.

One of these developments, now in private beta (you can sign up to it at: privatebeta@magnify.net ) is an online tool to build your video blog (vlog, for the technically less challenged amongst us) in a few minutes. All you will need is to connect your webcam after putting up your free blog page, to go live. Magnify.net promises to offer stylish and slick templates to make the graphic design process drag-and-drop simple.

Want to learn the ins-and-outs of about vlogging? Podcamp co-founder and online media guru Chris Brogan will host a daily video blog called “Attention Upgrade” to showcase Magnify's new platform during the private beta. This is a must for everybody interested in video blogging. In return, I ask that you provide feedback at privatebeta@magnify.net. Your input is requested!

The Webcam capture tool will also be available as a free add-on to the Magnify.net video channel creation platform. Thanks Steve Rosenbaum and team for that and all of the other new improvements and add-ons!

Free page design, layout, webcam support, video upload, and even revenue share on advertising inventory make Magnify.net the fastest growing video platform on the web. Already 20,000 publishers, like us, have built dedicated content channels on the Magnify.net platform.

Cybercast credit: iTV21 on Magnify.net and YouTube

Seeing IS Believing

While the way I've been testing widgets so far shouldn't necessarily be - that is, dropping the code into the body section of a blank html page.

Steve Rosenbaum's Magnify.net code works just fine when plugged directly into the blog. It even scales down perfectly, from 195x284 pixels to 135x196, which is what you will see from now on makeitv.com.

That big OOPS below is on me...thank you Steve for teaching me a shorter way to test, though!

Seeing Red with Magnify.net

Don't know about you, but I've been sick and tired of watching mostly "Preview Image Not Available" on Search Video's roll (under the calendar). So I decided to try another widget, available free at Steve Rosenbaum's Magnify.net. The choice was easy, after seeing how simple it was to set up our iTV 21 channel on the site.

Steve started Camera Planet 21 years ago with six dollars and a VHS camcorder. Now they're one of the largest producers and distributors of film, tv, and documentary projects in New York City. Recently he founded Magnify Media to enable all of us to freely use the technology they developed. As he says:

"I've been making media my entire life. Documentaries, tv programs, feature docs. But always with a middleman calling the tune, and paying the cost of production. For as long as I can remember, I was hoping for a day when the people that I made media for would pay (or not pay if they didn't like the work). Well I believe that time is now. Distribution is the future of media - and we'll work with our friends and partners to figure out this critically important piece of the puzzle."

Alas, the roll just rolls red rectangles, loading nothing. Another thing is, that the videos - Jaw Dropping Fire Poi...Super Pussy (it's NOT what you think, you...), Twisted Transistor, etc... - had nothing to do with the category I specified: Web Communities & Services. You do get to see the videos on their original sites, though, if you click on them. (Not on the image below, but the real thing.)


No problem, Steve - we'll wait for this to work. You and your crew certainly have your hands and screens full. Thanks for the opportunity!