» And yes… that’s me in the pictures. ;) 

vsnap:

by Trish Fontanilla, Community Manager at Vsnap

The rumors are true, our site is live and ready for you to play with. However, you will notice from our front page to our terms of service, we’re still in our test phase (or as Dave likes to call it, our MVP). But for those of you early adopters and the I’m-so-excited-about-Vsnap-and-I-just-can’t-hide-it folks, I decided to put together a few tips to get you started. 

Once you’ve created an account, logged in, and hit record on your homepage, you’ll get to the screen pictured above. To create a vsnap, first thing you have to do is let the app have access to your camera by clicking ‘allow’. To shave off a couple seconds on your next visit, tick the ‘remember’ box so that it doesn’t prompt you for access each time you want to send a vsnap.  

Before you hit record, take a quick look around. From where I sit in our office, RaceMenu is getting some primetime (but unintentional) product placement each time I send out a vsnap (and boom, there’s another plug). Maybe you’re at home and sending your boss a quick project update and your roommate is sitting on the couch behind you in their PJs… maybe you’re at a cafe and the guy next to you is clipping his toenails (it’s happened)… just remember to take into account anything that may affect the sound or visual quality of your vsnap. 

SMILE! It seems easy enough but I’m talking from the time you hit the record button to the time you hit stop. You don’t want to get caught with a thumbnail like the one above.   

And most importantly… be yourself. One of the best parts of chatting with someone in person is getting to see their facial expressions, their hand movements, even their moments of utter goofballness. The video won’t end up on the evening news (well, I guess it depends on who you send it to), so go ahead, lighten up and get excited about your party, promotion, new dog, or whatever makes you want to vsnap.    

Quick note, your vsnap title, description, and tags will be visible to the person you’re sending it to. That means if you’re sending a vsnap to your co-worker to help clarify a document, you may not want to tag it Cutie McCutiepants.

That’s all for now! We’ll definitely be posting more in the upcoming months but if you’ve already started playing with vsnap (woohoo!) and have some tips, please post them below. On the flip side, if you’re experiencing any issues please email me with your operating system, browser type, and what version of Flash you’re using. 

Happy Vsnapping!