Hulu Quietly Opens Its Doors
NBC/News Corp. Broadband-Video Venture Allows Beta Users to Invite Up to 10 Friends to Join
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/11/2008 1:34:00 PM
It may still be in beta, but Hulu, the NBC/News Corp. broadband-video venture, is slowly expanding its user base. On Friday, the video site quietly started allowing its beta users to invite up to 10 friends to join the site.
The change in policy will allow Hulu’s user base to grow dramatically. Gmail, Google’s e-mail service, used a similar invitation system when it first launched in 2004. Users started Web sites where anyone wanting a Gmail account could request an invitation and someone with access could send them one.
While no such site exists (yet) for Hulu invitations, the site has given away invites via NewTeeVee and TechCrunch, increasing the number of consumer users.
The purpose of the beta is to try to knock out the technical kinks with the site, as well as to gauge the interest of its users in terms of what works and what doesn’t.
A blog post announcing the new invitation policy requested feedback from users: “We've certainly learned a lot from the tens of thousands of comments, suggestions and e-mails you've sent us, and we look forward to hearing more of what you and your friends think,” wrote Eric Feng, chief technology officer of Hulu.
The increased user base will likely provide valuable data on the site as it progresses toward its consumer release, which should happen sometime in the next couple of months.
