Andrew Riggs / The Collegian

Watchdoit.com is a Web site that could potentially change the way people look at online instructional videos –– and it’s starting up here in Fresno.

Alumnus Brendan Kane, president of Watchdoit.com. said the site is slated to be one of the biggest Web sites to hit the city of Fresno.

“This is the biggest video sharing site to even be launched at Fresno State, but also at the Fresno community level,â€Â Kane said. “We don’t have anything but blogs.â€Â

Watchdoit.com is an instructional video Web site that doesn’t depend on seasoned experts to explain tasks that are second nature to them, Kane said. Kane said the goal of the site is to create a site in which educating, but entertaining content is created by the very same people watching it — the community.

“This is peer based, so you see your friends or your colleagues –– people in your community that you can relate to doing certain tasks,â€Â Kane said.

Kane said that video content didn̢۪t have to be by experts to get the point across. In fact, most college students felt that experts make the videos a bit more intimidating and boring.

“Usually the videos are pretty much some expert or some professional who is showing you these advanced techniques,â€Â Kane said. “[People] want to see someone they know making that video; they want to feel like they can do it.â€Â

The Watchdoit.com team went around the Fresno State campus to find people with talents and asked them to help create the site̢۪s 650 videos. The content of the site ranges from extreme sports, to cooking and beer pong.

Kane said the site also focuses on spotlighting people from the community.

“If one person makes a talented video and we really like it, we’ll actually go find them and interview them about how they did, why they did it, the background stuff like that,â€Â Kane said. “You can actually see people who have made great videos, but also you can see us interviewing them.â€Â

Kane said he realized that there were already Web sites that offered video Web content. He said Watchdoit.com is similar to those sites, but is particularly aimed at people in the immediate community.

“YouTube is a massive video sharing site but the problem is it doesn’t relate to you,â€Â Kane said. “They just bombard you with more and more videos.â€Â

Watchdoit.com marketing assistant Yulia Chavez said Watchdoit.com is just a movement from a macro site, like YouTube, to something more micro that centers on a particular audience.

Part of getting away from the YouTube look was creating a different image. This was the primary goal of Watchdoit.com graphic designer Brian Gadberry. Gadberry said that most Web sites that create online video content often use a format similar to YouTube.

“YouTube has a look,â€Â Gadberry said. “We want to break away from that and give it its own style and uniqueness.â€Â

Part of giving the site its own uniqueness is the 15 templates that the site offers. Gadberry said the goal of each template was to give each template its own function and style.

“It’s not another cookie cutter,â€Â Gadberry said.

Kane said there are other instructional video sites, but none centered on the college student.

“Right now there is no instructional video site for college students. As for our competition, it is just sporadic, other sites that have video content, but we don’t consider that much competition,â€Â Kane said. “You can just pretty much take a tour of the site, build your own profile and have at it.â€Â

Check it out
According to Kane, there is still no definite date when the site is to be launched. The Web site is in its early testing stages. Kane says that the Web site will be available when they feel they̢۪ve made the right adjustments, and they are overall happy with the Web site and its features.

• To become involved with the site, e-mail [email protected] and say you want to sign up for the beta testing.