A message on Facebook this morning from an old school friend prompted me to have another look at the site he has set-up in his new home of South Africa. I say that so that there are no doubts about the fact that I know the guys running it; that being said, I wouldn’t write about anything that I didn’t absolutely love (and they’re not even paying me!)

Earth Touch is an interestingmix of the old & the new, blending as it does social media style functionality (online video content, commenting & rating, etc..) with good old-fashioned wildlife documentary footage. The site has camera-teams all around southern Africa, who then upload amazing footage straight to the site.

What’s interesting is that the site offers the same level of content & image quality asservices such as Joost, but there is no need for any download, or the screen take-over which I often find to be a turn-off. And whilst they’re not yet syndicating the content to other sites, these discussions are apparently ongoing, showing that they understand that a ‘build it & they will come’ attitude doesn’t always work.

Brian tells me that they are in discusssions with major international TV companies about taking the footage offline and I for one can’t wait till the first of those deals is done. In the meantime, why not sign up for their public beta and be part of a web 2.0 project that has grander aims than simply making it easier to find people you used to avoid at school for a reason.

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