aNewDomain.net — Be honest. We all love to relax into the wide environs of online pop culture. Anime tape loops, Harlem Shake videos, fan-sub K-drama episodes, you get the idea. Hey, whatever floats your unique Internet-sized boat, most lazy afternoons usually include some mindless browsing.
But every rabid hikikimori, at some point, begins to yearn for content with a little more substance. Enter TestTube.com. Have you checked it out yet? I did and I was impressed.
Image credit: TestTube.com
Cool To Be Smart
The Digital Content Network was launched in May 2013, and claims it is the place “where it’s cool to be smart.”
TestTube offers a supreme mix of satire and knowledge. For instance, Nature Hates You, is a weekly show that looks at different ways “Mother Nature can mess you up.”
Sex+ is a bi-monthly program that discusses relationships, body image, sexuality and gender. TestTube provides valuable content with an eccentric bent, leaving traditional learning to dusty textbooks.
TestTube essentially woos the YouTube generation, but specifically includes content that is both entertaining and informative. This dynamic combination eludes other video sites like Vevo, Metacafe, Break, Vimeo, Veoh, and Dailymotion. It also hosts lengthy videos, foregoing the video-clip business model of Twitter’s Vine service.
The Internet is an unwieldy place. It has no boundaries and can (and does) accommodate every form of self-expression. From student films to ambient sound montages, from amateur frottage voyeurism to cute flash videos — it’s all there. The Internet’s lack of content control has been the engine for entirely new business models.
TestTube, however, travels a different road. When the channel launched the chief digital officer of Discovery Communications, Jean-Briac Perrette, said the company’s goal was to be the No. 1 nonfiction media and video company on all screens. TestTube is surely a part of that plan, as a voice for their parent company who wants to forego the frivolous and produce content that is useful and informative.
Host Cristen Conger, Stuff Mom Never Told You. Image credit: TestTube.com
Don’t confuse “frivolous” with “irreverence,” however. “Our shows are authentic, challenging and irreverent,” states TestTube’s website. Unlike sites like WebMD, MathTV, or AcademicEarth, TestTube aims to disseminate serious information in an entertaining way. For instance, Cristen Conger is an engaging host who talks about embarrassing and awkward “girl stuff” in her show, Stuff Mom Never Told You. Similarly, Tory Belleci, the co-host of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters, is committed to helping people with personal issues while Tory uses an arsenal of explosives and pyrotechnics. Not surprisingly, his show is called Blow It Up!
Yes, the TestTube crew is an irreverent bunch. But after spending a few hours on the site, you’ll undoubtedly have a substantive insight into the world around you. And you won’t feel like you’ve wasted an entire afternoon watching family reunion bloopers.
Based in San Francisco, Eric Searleman is a senior editor at aNewDomain.net. He’s worked as a newspaper reporter, a fiction editor, a comic book artist — and even a rocker. He’s edited novels for Eraserhead Press including “Trashland A Go Go,” and he’s illustrated books for Immedium including “Animals Don’t, So I Won’t,” Read Eric’s blog about superheroes http://superheronovels.com/author/esearleman/ or check out his bio on aNewDomain.net
Awesome article, awesome network. But i’m biased :)
very good, I like the honesty