Webcams have been gaining significant buzz of late. Some of the websites that are taking advantage of their rising popularity are uStream, HeyCosmo and Operator 11. Justin.tv purports to cover the exploits of co-founder Justin Kan 24/7 but it uses a mobile camera not a webcam so it could be disqualified on a technicality. The idea however is essentially the same “the power of the camera”, turn one on and average Joe morphs into his less inhibited stage persona.

Flivor www.flivor.com is the latest of the pack and its name is not the only notable thing about the newcomer. Unlike the others its slick landing page looks more like a multimedia desktop application than your standard issue web 2.0 social networking sites. If you click on the list of live users you instantly see their video feed and can join their live video session. Or if you tend to be more of a leader than a follower, you can try hosting and inviting users to join your own cam session. The fact that you can be live in two clicks is a welcome departure from sites that require you to run through a veritable gauntlet of settings before finally connecting.

“We have made signup as painless as possible” says a spokesperson for the site. Simplicity seems to be the overriding credo on Flivor, from the drag and drop modules in the profile setup page to the filter search that lets you quickly sift through user profiles. The site uses Adobe Flash or Microsoft’s Silverlight video player as well as H.264 and doesn’t require any downloads. You can record directly from the player to leave a video comment on a friend’s page or even imbed the player on your own website. Flivor is perusing the possibility of enabling you to shoot and broadcast direct from your mobile phone. This means you could be at a Green Day concert in LA’s Staple Center and your friend in Wichita could be on your Flivor page rocking along to your cell phone livecast. Though this idea has been around for a while, the emergence of so-called 3G and 4G wireless technology plants it firmly in the realm of reality.

Another differentiating factor about Flivor is the content it makes available to users. Flivors’ shows are divided into genres that cover film/TV, sports, music and lifestyle. A user can search under these categories for live broadcasts that interest them. Flivor hints that it is making overtures to major networks, independent creators and other providers to fuel its content catalogue. Though a major deal has not yet been announced, the migration of premium content from traditional outlets like the tube to outposts on the net means they should have no trouble finding enough interested prospects. What keeps Flivor from being yet another re-broadcaster of TV clips is that they will focus on live content. This puts a twist in the passive nature of entertainment by letting the viewers affect what they see, chatting, commenting and interacting with the show hosts and other viewers.

A visit to www.flivor.com lets you see a funky video promo for the service and send an email for more info to the administrators.