LVA or live video avatar for VKontakte

Instead of the preface

No, of course, this is not about the blue humanoid from the planet Pandora.
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Back in October 2010, I, as an active user of the social network VKontakte, asked the question “How can I improve this site?”. And the answer to this question was not so easy to find, because even then, “Contact” combined an easy and convenient interface, a harmonious organization of data, vastness of content, etc. etc. Regularly there were some updates and additions, but for the most part they were not global (we tactfully keep silent about microblogging).
The first thing that came to mind was video communication, but what would be better or newer than the same Skype? Moreover, it is unlikely that it will be possible to drag the blanket over itself in a niche it has long occupied (and now Skype is rapidly integrating with Facebook).
After some time, video calls appeared on the social network, but for obvious reasons, they did not arouse much interest - just like most, they just looked at how it works.

The essence

The proposed service is designed to make the page of each user of the social network "VKontakte", as well as communities, more interactive, more alive. As one of the variants of the service name - Live Video Avatar - i.e. live video avatar. The essence of this service is that, along with a static avatar in the form of a picture, each user or community can also have a video avatar that will display the video stream from its webcam in a small window in real time (for communities this is a promotional video of limited duration). More specifically, I see this as two overlapping tabs (or option button) for selecting (or switching) between the regular avatar and the LVA. Those. A user who logs on to the site can choose whether he wants to broadcast the video from the webcam as an avatar, or leave it not included. If we talk about the pages of other users, then everyone can also choose whether he wants to see the picture on the avatar, or the video avatar of another user, if he activated it.



It is worth noting that the video is unlikely to broadcast with sound, firstly, because it does not have the function of video calls; secondly, when opening pages of several users, it will cause a sound cacophony.
If we talk about communities, then there are options: if the video is with sound, which is preferable for many, then the playback should not be cyclical and have a stop function, for example, by clicking. With the "silent" option, you can set the looped playback by default.

Offline Video Avatar (OVA)

In addition, users can be prompted during their absence on the network in the LVA window to demonstrate Offline Video Avatar, limiting the duration to 10-15 seconds. This may be a video message or a greeting like an answering machine. Here are possible options:

- allow users to download short clips from a computer;

or

- Restrict users to recording OVA directly from the webcam, in order to avoid distribution, advertising, spam, pornography, etc., although, of course, there are webcam applications that will help circumvent this, but this is an additional obstacle.

LVA privacy

On the one hand, the ability to view the user's LVA can be limited for a certain circle in the privacy settings, but then there is a possibility that the service will become more like a video chat between two users, which will not be so attractive for a wide range.
On the other hand, the LVA on / off function is sufficient. Calculation of greater proximity to the video trick or video broadcasting, when one user broadcasts the video for all, and it is viewed by those who are interested. In this way, a greater user presence effect can be achieved.

LVA tape



In addition to the video avatar itself, in the area to the left, under the menu of the page, I suggest placing a kind of “LVA Tape”. Its functions are reduced to the fact that the user can “drag” the video avatar on it with video avatars of users who are currently interesting for him or those with whom he is currently communicating in dialogs. When a new message arrives, an icon with the number of new messages will appear on the video window in the video window. When you click on a video item in the feed, a chat with this user will open. The capacity of an LVA tape should be limited to 3-5 video avatars to avoid scroll bars, and rarely when a user communicates simultaneously with a large number of people.

Why do you need a tape? It is unlikely that it will be convenient for users to constantly jump from one tab to another or to a third one in order to look at a user’s LVA, and there are always interesting people on the page, and you can simultaneously view the news, somewhere you can post something and observe others. The tape itself can be hidden so as not to clutter the page when the tape is not involved.





Why tape the VKontakte? After recruiting the majority of users among the Russian-speaking population and closing the registration, the social network in its plans for the moment is expansion into Eastern European countries and further west, i.e. you need to attract new users and advertisers from abroad and keep as long as possible on the site of existing users (the longer the presence - the more advertising shown). And here you can hardly think of a less obtrusive way of attracting users to a block of targeted advertising than with the help of an LVA tape located directly below it.

Conclusion

This service can become its chip of the largest social network in Russia - integrating with Skype is no longer a novelty. Moreover, the high-speed Internet becomes available to an ever greater circle of users. It is possible that the usual static avatars will soon lose their relevance, and maybe completely die off.
Therefore, someone will take the first step to increase interactivity in social networks, and this can be VKontakte.

PS It should be noted that I myself do not refer to designers and web developers, therefore, the layouts are intended solely for a schematic illustration of the concept (made on the basis of my page).