Who Talked About Us?

👋 Introduction

"Who Talked About Us?" is an influencer-filtering app where a user can:

1. Create an index (a library of videos)
2. Upload YouTube videos in bulk by (public) playlist ID, channel ID, or JSON file
3. Filter the videos and channels that mention a provided keyword (e.g., applying MAC gold highlighter)
4. View specific timelines or references of videos mentioning the keyword

This application utilizes Twelve Labs API for the rich, contextual video search. Twelve Labs is an AI-powered video understanding platform that extracts various types of information from videos, such as movement and actions, objects and people, sound, text on screen, and speech.

Built With

• JavaScript
• Node
• React
• React Query
• React Bootstrap
• ytdl-core
• ytpl
• React Player

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✨ What is it for?

After years of experience in influencer partnerships as a marketing professional in the beauty industry, I've learned a valuable lesson in selecting the ideal YouTube or TikTok influencer for a brand. (Yes, I’m a marketing professional turned software engineer 😉). The most successful collaborations tend to happen organically with influencers who are already genuine enthusiasts of your products or brand. However, identifying these influencers can be challenging, especially when your brand isn't explicitly mentioned in video titles or descriptions. This has been a personal pain point, such as when a YouTuber features your product in a video without explicitly naming your brand, making it hard to discover through conventional searches.

That's where the Who Talked About Us with Twelve Labs API can be a game-changer. Unlike traditional YouTube or TikTok searches, this API enables deep contextual video searches by extracting various elements from videos, including movements, objects, people, sounds, on-screen text, and speech. By inputting keywords or specific descriptions, such as "applying MAC gold highlighter," you can uncover videos discussing your brand or products with precise moments of reference. This innovative approach empowers you to build a targeted list of influencers, complete with details about the products they've mentioned and the context, providing valuable insights for more effective engagement and meaningful connections.

From the bottom of the search results, you can effortlessly identify that Jean Watts, Risabae, Glamzilla, and Smitha Deepak mention "MAC gold highlighter," in their videos along with the exact moments of references. In contrast, the videos from 18 influencers including British Vogue did not feature such mentions. Armed with this comprehensive result, you can strategically prioritize reaching out to influencers like Jean and Risabe, armed with the right context for more impactful collaborations.

🚘 How to Use

1. Either create a new index or provide an index id of the existing index that you already created/uploaded videos directly through this app before. You can look up the index ids by listing indexes.

   • This app only supports the videos uploaded/indexed directly through this app

2. Once you are inside an index, Begin by uploading videos in bulk to the app using either YouTube playlist ID, channel ID, or JSON file.

   • A YouTube playlist and channel should be public

   • The format of a JSON file should follow below structure

     [
      { "url": "<VIDEO URL>" },
      { "url": "<VIDEO URL>" }
      ...
     ]
     

3. Once the videos are uploaded, you can conduct a search using any keyword. Here are some suggestions:

   • Enter your brand name or product name and discover who's already talking about you in their videos
   • Enter your competitors' brand names to see what types of influencers they're attracting
   • You can also search for very specific or contextual keywords such as "applying MAC gold highlighter" or "holding Gentle Monster sunglasses"!

4. The search results will be shown grouped by each channel (influencer) and video, displaying moments in videos where your keyword is mentioned or featured.

5. Based on these results, you can prioritize influencers and begin your outreach efforts, forging partnerships that can expand your brand reach and influence. Remember, success in influencer marketing is all about forming authentic partnerships!

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🔑 Getting Started

Step 1. Generate Twelve Labs API Key

Visit Twelve Labs Playground to generate your API Key

• Once you sign up, you'll receive complimentary credits allowing you to index up to 10 hours of video content!

Step 2 (Option 1). Start the App on Replit

1. Click the button below and fork the repl

   

2. Update Secrets (equivalent to .env)

   REACT_APP_API_KEY=<YOUR API KEY>
   

3. Stop and Run the Repl

Step 2 (Option 2). Start the App Locally

1. Clone the current repo

   git clone git@github.com:mrnkim/Who-Talked-About-Us.git

2. Create .env file in the root directory and update the values for each key

    .env
   
    REACT_APP_API_KEY=<YOUR API KEY>
    REACT_APP_SERVER_URL=<YOUR SERVER URL> //e.g., http://localhost
    REACT_APP_PORT_NUMBER=<YOUR PORT NUMBER> // Optional (set to 4000 by default if you do not set this variable)
   

3. Start the server

   node server.js

4. Install and start the client

   npm install
   npm start

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🎯 What is Next?

• Add more tests
• Improve error handling and add data validations
• Make it mobile-friendly