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"Online video network Blip.tv has just relaunched its website, focusing on helping users discover the best and highest quality original web series.\n\"There isn't a good place dedicated to discovering original web content,\" Blip.tv co-founder and CEO Mike Hudack told us. That's what the new blip.tv design hopes to change.  The content featured on the site is handpicked to highlight the best quality, most professional offerings available. Currently 1,800 original series are organized into 16 different categories. \nWhat separates blip from other content destination sites, however, is that everything is curated by actual human beings. This really shines through in the recommendation section visible on every show page and in every category. An algorithm isn't showing users what other shows are similar; the site editors and show creators are making their own suggestions.\n\n\n\n\nShow Pages Help Promote Shows, Not Just Blip\nEach of the 1,800 featured web series has its own show page. The design of these pages is similar to what you might see on Hulu or on Sony's Crackle.com \u2014 in other words, these pages look professional. \nEach show has a show poster that is displayed alongside episode clips and offers an extra touch of branding. Show producers can integrate their Twitter and Facebook feeds with their show page, post links to their websites and promote merchandise. The pages also make it easy for users to browse archives and producers can even organize content into various series.\nThe hope is that this can be a place that content creators want to promote and use. Lots of blip producers cross-syndicate their content to other services, in addition to using their own sites. \nBetter Playback Experience\nThe blip.tv video player is now larger and better looking. It gets out of your way, but still provides easy access to video controls. Easy access to an episode list is visible at the top of the player, and it opens in a modal window. \nSharing options also use a modal window, which makes it easy to share a link on Facebook, Twitter, embed a video on your own site or email to a friend.\nAgain, the experience is much more akin to Hulu instead of YouTube, and this makes a difference in terms of the overall destination experience.\nPlans for the Future\nThe blip.tv team reiterated that the new site is just the first step; more features and better functionality are planned for the future. For instance, users will be able to add and \"follow\" shows. Frankly, I can't wait for this feature to launch, because it feels like the only missing piece in the current iteration on the site.\nFurthermore, separate experiences are being worked on for connected devices and other platforms like iOS and Android. The goal was to focus on the web experience first and then look at other platforms.\nBuilding Blip as a Brand\nThe new blip.tv website shows lots of promise not just for users \u2014 who have a great new destination to find and discover original web series \u2014 but also for blip to build itself out as a brand.\nOver the last year, we've been impressed by how blip has focused its energies on differentiating itself from its competitors and building itself into a television network for the Internet era. \nWith the new website, the company is even closer in reaching that goal."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/05/17/blip-tv-redesign/>