Watch and share with Showyou

Showyou is a video-centric mobile social network for iOS devices. It's available now as a free download from the App Store. It's been available for quite some time, but recently saw a major version 4.0 overhaul. Showyou is another attempt to give video the "Flipboard" treatment, allowing users to subscribe to their various social networks along with dedicated, themed "channels." Users may use the service to discover new content from their friends or the channels they have subscribed to, then use the built-in social features to comment on or share the content with their friends. Showyou's interface initially prompts users to create a new account, sign in with an existing one or use Facebook and/or Twitter to get started. In the latter cases, the built-in iOS social functionality is used to connect to the networks, and content from users' friends is automatically subscribed to in the app. The user is then prompted to pick a selection of channels to subscribe to. To assist with finding appropriate content, these are categorized by broad topic area, though there are some curious omissions -- "video games" being a popular topic that mobile users are interested in which is curiously absent as its own dedicated topic area here. Once the user has set up their account, they may then begin browsing content from their various subscriptions. Videos from social media users are presented separately from channel subscription content, allowing users to easily distinguish between content from their friends and that which has perhaps been more carefully curated. Content shared on social networks may be sent in an email message to anyone; content shared via a dedicated Showyou channel may be reshared by a user to their own account. All content that appears in the Showyou feeds may be commented on or added to a "watch later" playlist; content that was specifically shared to Showyou rather than via other social networks may be commented on, reshared or the user "thanked" -- the app's "Like" equivalent. Unlike many other social video discovery and sharing apps, the team behind Showyou remembered to include a search function. This means that the user is not limited to simply following content in the order it was posted by channels and users; it's also possible to look for videos on a specific topic from around the Web. The app also shows what topics are trending at any given moment, allowing users to quickly find relevant videos about whatever is big in the news at the time. Showyou is a well put-together app that performs its stated functions well. Whether or not users will actually find it useful will depend entirely on how the user in question consumes Web-based video content. It would have perhaps been nice to see the option to integrate both videos shared on social media and subscribed channels into a single feed, but as it stands, it allows the user to easily browse through and discover a wide variety of content, then watch, share and react to it without ever having to leave the app. In other words, so far as social video discovery apps go, Showyou is a good one -- but there's still a big question as to whether or not it's really a "necessary" app for anyone. Showyou is currently ranked at No. 208 in Top Free Social Networking Apps and No. 48 in Top Free iPad Social Networking Apps. It's also presently enjoying a feature spot in the "What's Hot" section of the App Store thanks to its new update.

Social Pro Daily

Watch and share with Showyou

Pete Davison

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Pete Davison