Editors Note: I must admit right from the get-go that this company is a client of my employer, Stage Two Consulting, but I am writing this from a journalistic standpoint and what I’m about to write is a honest review of the service it provides.
When I first heard about Redux, I didn’t really quite get what was going on. Yet another social network that allows people to share their information. But then again, I hadn’t even logged into the site yet – it was all hearsay. But now, after creating an account and checking it out, there seems to be some good potential with what Redux is all about.
Basically, in my opinion, I see Redux as a YouTube meets Bit.ly website. It’s basically allowing people to find what you share without having to upload it from another party. And it’s not that you have to be the creator of the work. Instead, the focus is on resharing content that people have already posted online and that you want to share and put into a vault of cool media. For example, one of the things that I found really interesting was a video on CNN about the drunk woman who fell onto the subway tracks and the subway narrowly missed her by inches. This video was posted on CNN and also made it onto Mashable – but it was found on Redux.
How can I put this? Basically, Redux is the website that hosts video and photos and other digital media that are both entertaining and/or humorous – aggregated into one central repository. If you’re a person who loves bookmarking video and wants to share it with everyone but it just doesn’t appear right on Facebook and you can’t even drop it into YouTube, then use Redux. Redux doesn’t even care what social network it’s on. Just copy the URL into the share toolbar and it’ll do the rest.
Here’s how it works:
Once you find a movie, audio, or picture file that you really enjoy, then take the web address for it and add it to the network. Once you hit the “Preview” button, a thumbnail will automatically be generated (if applicable) and you can add in your own title and description, if one isn’t provided for you. And since this is social media, users can even have that set up to be posted & shared through their Twitter and Facebook accounts.
If you’re not interested in sharing any multimedia, you’re more than welcome to look at what others are posting as well. Since there is some Twitter integration in Redux, the people who you’re following will also appear in your timeline – if they tweeted out a document, video or audio program to share. Redux doesn’t seem to be a social network like Facebook where a majority of users only show their profiles and shared items with their friends and whom they mutually think are followers. Redux is more open and that’s allowed for more items to be shared and discovered. This is one of the best things about the site – it’s giving things that have may or may not been viewed another chance.
Clicking on an item in your profile will allow you to also view it on the same site as well – thereby enhancing the in-network experience. And as with all social networks, Redux allows you to chime in with your opinions by offering “props” (think of them as Facebook “likes”) and commenting. And if you liked the item and want to share it on other networks through embedding or other viral methods, Redux lets you do that. There are methods to send that particular media to a friend either through a direct link or by posting it to your Twitter, Facebook and/or Myspace account – and there’s always email, right?
But don’t think that there’s not a sense of organization, either…because there is. There are a variety of channels at your disposal for you to find interesting and, often times, amusing videos and photos. This is one part that seems to have worked from YouTube and I think it’s great that it was carried over. And you can even create your own channel if you don’t find one that’s working for you. Redux seems to be, at least, partially identifying itself as a “YouTube meets CollegeHumor.com” and the channels are a pretty clear sign of it. Just take a look at some of the channel names:
- LOL!
- WTF?
- The Best of Advertising
- Awesome Movie Scenes
- Feed the Trollz
- Everything Japanese
- Cute Baby Videos
- Laughably Bad Movie Scenes
- Great Pet Moments
These are just some of them out of possibly dozens of channels to enjoy. If you’re interested in finding some videos that may or may not be on YouTube or any other site, then you might find it here on Redux. It’s almost like crowdsourcing awesome videos – a majority of it being humorous. I’d often like to bookmark videos and currently do it through Del.icio.us, but possibly using Redux is an option because not only can I share it virally, but it’ll be there for me when I want to reference it later on…and dare I say it could be the video version of Del.icio.us??
Redux is right now in beta mode right now and hopefully will be set to launch soon. If you want to know when it’ll launch, you can fill out the form here. But if you really want to check it out, leave me a comment at the bottom of this post and I’ll get you an invite if I can.
Disclosure: Redux is my client. This post was written without consent or approval from the company and are my own words.
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