Friction.TV has released a full version of its video-sharing site, dedicated to the principle of freedom of speech. On it, you can upload videos of yourself commenting on specific issues, "no matter how controversial".
It's been in a public beta phase for the last three months but has now launched its first fully functional version. Friction TV uses the increasingly popular video-sharing format to give everyone a voice and a platform to air their views.
Friction.TV has quickly gained in popularity through word of mouth since its beta inception. It's attracted more than 250,000 unique visitors and more than two million page impressions during the initial three-month public testing period. In addition, Friction.TV users are viewing an average of eight videos per session while browsing videos and text content.
"We initially wanted to test the idea of Friction.TV by seeding it publicly through word of mouth. The response has been fantastic with viewers clearly welcoming the opportunity to voice opinions in an uncensored, easy accessible way," said Andy West at Friction TV.
New YouTube rival
"Our aim now is to encourage as many people as possible to have their say on issues they are passionate about. We firmly believe that our video debating format will prove extremely popular with students, adults and senior citizens alike, because ultimately everyone has an opinion and most of us want to share it."
The site says that "simplicity of design" and "ease of use" are key to the site's success. And the search function allows visitors to go straight to videos under specific tags. The debate thread is also easy to follow with videos and text responses arranged under the original video in order of appearance.
With no editorial agenda, the site is largely uncensored and every viewpoint can be heard, no matter how strong or controversial. It is however, viewer moderated, so any inappropriate content that crosses the boundaries of decency or contravenes any law can be removed.
"Friction.TV was founded to provide an antidote to mainstream media by delivering challenging, and sometimes raw, opinion from all sections of society. The site is founded on a belief that everyone has a right to voice an opinion no matter what it is," the site said on release.
It clearly wants to drive traffic to the site by encouraging people to upload monologues about controversial topics - even the site's name is evidence of that. So expect plenty "There is no God" pieces and even more "Well actually, Steve Jobs is God..." ones.
