TUV Online

Almost ten years ago when I was in college, I worked for CollegeClub.com as a campus representative for the Atlanta University Center. Attending events, taking pictures, and chronicling the joy of the college experience online was great. But since the advent of Facebook, finding unique websites that speak to the college experience is rare. The few which have survived since then have scaled back their offerings to appeal to particular niches of college students. Such is the case with TUVOnline.com.

TUVOnline.com dubs itself “the online video network that features urban college life”, and is the brainchild of Jason Smikle, son of Target Market News founder Ken Smikle. Videos are divided into five sections. “Hotness” showcases the latest videos from different TUV location cities like Chicago and Philadelphia. “Soul” has informal interviews with up and coming and established artists. “Parties” includes party cams from several cities and campuses, as well as a series called “Video Game” where random clubgoers dissect other random clubgoers skills on picking someone up. “Blast” features Facebook it-girl Quinta ‘QBZ’ Brunson in a series she calls The Rant where she discusses her take on the college-related topics. “On Point” has man-on-the-street interviews with college students on topics like HIV and if people would vote for Obama if he were gay.

The site has a unique layout putting the video front and center, and hiding away options for comments, subscriptions, and social networking links in buttons underneath. The high production value really makes the videos stand out even more, but some basic options for online videos are missing (volume control, options to embed clips on other sites, etc.) There haven’t been any new video updates since mid-November 2008, and page options aren’t saved as you click on videos in other sections, so it’s hard to navigate through all the videos in one particular section without extra clicking. An addition of an RSS feed for new videos would also be a helpful addition. The site is new though, and certainly has nowhere to go but up. It certainly brought back a lot of great memories for me of my college experiences.

What do you think of the site?