Want to share only a specific section of a video clip? Now you can.

Thanks to the latest feature release from online video editing and publishing service Motionbox (being released today), the syndicating, mashing-up and repurposing of online video content may gain some of the vast unrealized potential that deep linking into video would allow.

What's deep linking? It is the ability to link not just to a video clip, but to link to a very specific point or "segment" within the clip itself. As we can't yet instantly preview or fast forward through audio and video content in any effective way, the ability to increase the granularity level at which video and audio content can be addressed, opens up enormous new opportunities for making much larger and more effective use of online video.

If one needs not to go through to lengthy and uninteresting recordings while being enabled to instantly zoom in on key points of interest, we will positively see a major increase in video usage and in the benefits that this extra accessibility provides to us.

Here more information:

Sharing video clips segments by way of deep linking is not a breakthrough innovation in absolute terms, as Flashmeeting, an outstandingly effective and innovative video conferencing technology from the Open University in the UK has been demonstrating for over 2 years (see here my first short review about it).

Here for example are some deep links from a memorable interview with original Rocketboom duo, recorded over a year ago with Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baron.

Video interview highlights:

• Amanda explains how it all started for her and what is her personal reason for keep going with RocketBoom.
• Andrew Barron recounts how he himself first started thanks to his interest in the 2004 USA political elections.
• Where do you need to go to study and learn more about video blogging?
• Good short explanation on how to create a video blog clip that can be published online, from downloading video footage to your computer, to editing and saving an encoded video clip ready for viewing on the Web.

Link to full interview and article:
Video Blog RocketBoom Gets The Spotlight: A Good Interview With Amanda Congdon And Andrew Baron

But while the deep linking feature of Flashmeeting could be applied only to the recording of live video meetings, Motionbox popularizes the same concept by allowing any video uploaded to its service to be made directly addressable by way of direct deep links.

[As you see, forward-looking academic research had already built and seen through the usefulness of this approach much earlier than any commercial entity started working on it, and in fact many of the cool prototype technologies emerging from some of this academic research groups would be well worth a more attentive look by investors and venture capitalist wanting to go beyond the daily feature race.]

The new video sharing ability launching today on Motionbox gives users the power to select any number of highlights in their online videos, assign them with tags, and share them with friends, giving Motionbox a temporary space under the spotlight.

How it works
Each Motionbox video, starting today, will have a 'film strip' under the main image. To select parts of the video, it really is as easy as clicking and dragging over the parts you want to highlight, and then choosing to tag them - to help people find them within the online community, or share them, by sending a link out to your friends or colleagues. When they come to the video, they will automatically be taken to the part of the video you have selected.

Photo credit: Motionbox.com

The film strip is also a great way of letting people navigate through a video using visual cues. By clicking on the thumbnail images of the filmstrip, the user can quickly skip to parts of the video that look interesting, or those that have been tagged and highlighted by other users.

Whether you want to send key highlights of a presentation or conference, the funniest part of a comedy show, the winning goal of your football team or share personal moments with friends and family, the ability to select, share and tag segments of video will prove a priceless addition to your online video sharing tools.

Photo credit: Motionbox.com

In this short video introduction to Motionbox new video sharing feature, Michael Pick highlights the ease with which videos can be quickly diced up, tagged and shared.

But Motionbox still sorely lacks the ability to allow the video clips uploaded to its site to be as easily shared or downloaded as its key competing services have long been offering.

If Motionbox will be able to fill this gap while integrating further advanced abilities, like those pioneered by Veotag and Click.tv, which allow for even greater accessibility to specific segments within a video by providing extended annotation, commenting and direct-to-point navigation features, it could provide a truly compelling feature set for any online video publisher, aggregator or distributor.

Doing that rapidly will be a tough challenge, but a very powerful one in providing a lead to serve the new fast growing number of online media publishers wanting to integrate video in new and effective ways. Brightcove, Google Video and others may have soon major surprises and yet to be released features in these very directions.