As a tech journalist who travels a lot, I often find myself sitting next to someone at the airport or on an airplane who wants my advice on whether they should buy an iPad or which apps they should download. (Note to self: start carrying print books again in lieu of gadgets to avoid these sorts of conversations.) Lately, when it comes to showcasing the iPad’s wow-factor, I’ve shown people Showyou.
The video-browsing app launched last month to great praise, much of it comparing Showyou’s reinvention of consuming videos on the iPad to Flipboard‘s reinvention of consuming blogs, tweets, and RSS feeds. The enthusiasm for the app doesn’t just come from the tech press. Since its launch, Showyou says it’s already fetched over 10 million videos from its users’ Facebook and Twitter feeds, and the startup says that users watch, on average, more than 4 videos every time they open the app.
There were a few complaints at the time, however, most notably that the app was lacking the most obvious video integration: YouTube.
Showyou is rolling out an update today to address just that – and more. In addition to connecting Showyou to your Facebook, Twitter, and Vodpod accounts, you can add your YouTube, Vimeo, and Tumblr accounts. When you connect these services to Showyou, you’ll be able to see the videos posted to the channels you subscribe to as well as by the people you follow.
Showyou is also expanding its “grid,” upping the number of videos you’ll be able to browse through on the app – up to 200 videos from friends and people you follow on social networks. The app now also includes the ability to try out the app without actually signing in via a new “Guest Access” button.
Recent statistics point to the fact that we’re consuming more and more video via our mobile devices. That puts ShowYou in a good position to make not just the consumption, but the discovery of video a lot better.
