Thwapr Finds Success with Personal Video Sharing

Thwapr is catering to a younger generation of online video viewers by providing video that's social, personal, and immediate. While the company started in 2007, it's now finding impressive success with its formula, as shown by three music-related announcements all made yesterday. Perhaps Thwapr just needed phones and networks to catch up before it could take off.

If you haven't heard of it, Thwapr is a free cell phone video service that doesn't require an app to work. Users record a video with their cell phone's video camera, then use e-mail or their phone's browser to upload the video to their Thwapr account. Thwaper stores and converts all uploaded videos. Once users have uploaded a video, they can share it via a text message.

People receiving a Thwapr video will see the format and bitrate that works best with their phone. The service lets people share videos and not worry about formats or long downloads.

The service will be used at two music tours this summer. Viewers can get concert highlights and behind-the-scenes reports from the Vans Warped Tour by texting "warped" to 757575. They can get video updates and fan reactions from the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival by texting "mayhem" to that same number. There's no fee to use Thwapr. Instead, videos are ad-supported. A press representative said that not all videos currently carry ads.

The Brooklyn-based Lordz is the first band to use Thwapr. The band has Thwapr's Share to Phone technology on its site, letting viewers share the band's music videos to mobile phones or social networks.

"Thwapr is an amazing way for us to stay in touch with fans before and after shows in a way no one else is able to match, and the Share to Phone feature helps our existing fans socialize and share our music with their friends in a simple and easy way," says Lordz founder Mike "Mr. Kaves" McLeer.