Channel.me Has Potential But Can It Deliver?
Ever wanted to surf the same site simultaneously with friends on different computers? Well, Channel.me attempts to solve this issue through a rather interesting way. In essence, the site creates a “channel” that you can then share with other people online. Through this channel (which will have a URL looking like “channel.me/random#’s”), you can surf to other sites through clicking links on the current page and using Google searches. There are quite a few nice features that Channel.me has added, but there are also a few concerning bugs that desperately need fixing as well.The Nice Features
There were a few features for Channel.me that impressed me immediately. They include the following:
• No sign-up and no download. All you have to do is click the button pictured, and the site will create a channel for you. This is a huge convenience that will surely attract a lot of users.
• Invite friends via link (or email or Facebook). There are a number of ways to get your friends on your channel. You can email them through the channel interface, find them on Facebook (requires you to log through the channel), or just instant message them with a link. By far, I have found the link invite to the channel to be the most convenient; it would have been annoying if they had restricted you to navigate through Facebook.
• Sticky notes and cursor tracking. One of the coolest features of the site was the ability to create sticky notes on the page your channel is currently on. Any member of the channel can update a sticky note (then it becomes labeled with recent updater’s name on top). Even more fascincating is that the channel tracks members’ cursor movements, so you can see what your friends are doing on the page. The most practical use I can imagine for this cursor tracking would be pointing to an area of text on the page for another member. Of course, beyond pragmatism, this ability also immerses both online experiences together, making you feel perhaps a little closer to other members on the channel. It might be a nice touch in a long distance relationship.
Problems I’ve Had with the Service
While the features on Channel.me are all nice and fancy, the service still has a large amount of serious issues that need to be resolved soon. I don’t want to be too critical because the site is still in beta, but for those looking to try out the service now, expect the following issues to occur:
• Not a seamless transition between pages on the channel. I’ve noticed a few issues in this area of the service. Sometimes I will click to a new link, and everyone on the channel will arrive to the new page except for me. Other times, we all have to refresh the channel to reach the new page. Usually refreshing the channel will ensure everyone is on the same page, but you would think a web-experience-sharing service would be much more seamless.
• Videos don’t always play together. YouTube is your best bet. There were a couple times in which I clicked a video to have it start playing, and it actually starting playing for everyone on the channel. Even on YouTube, this didn’t happen often. If you are trying to play an embedded video from a site, the chances are even slimmer.
• Unreliable chat. This probably has to do with the first point mentioned above. Not only would it be difficult to get every member of the channel on the same page, it was also difficult to determine who was in the channel. Also, the channel chat was glitchy at best; sometimes it wouldn’t register anything I typed into the chat.
Is This Really the Next Step in Web Sharing?
Over the last couple years, we’ve seen quite a few web-experience sharing services all contending to deliver the ultimate, live online experience with you and your friends and colleagues. Some are social bookmarking services, others are media storage and sharing services, and this one is a media streaming and sharing service in which you literally stream the internet through one channel with a group of people.
If you don’t have a webcam and microphone, this service would seem pretty ideal for sharing a mutual online experience. It would seem most practical for situations requiring close evaluation of one website (perhaps a group critique on a new website about to launch). However, in the grand scheme of just sharing interesting/funny articles, images, and videos on the internet, the process of this service seems to get in the way of the experience itself.
Even if there weren’t any bugs in Channel.me, I still think I would prefer sharing links to websites through instant messengers than using this channel service. If I want to share a direct web experience with someone, I would rather do it with their voice on the line. If the service also allowed voice and video communication, I could see it having some more steam by the time of its launch. At the moment, however, Google Hangouts seems to be doing this service almost flawlessly.
About the author: Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.
