• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 10, 2010

Truveo has introduced a video search application for Facebook that will allow users to browse its database of more than 500 million videos and share clips with friends. The app will also allow people to find relevant content through recommendations from Facebook friends.

The Truveo app could help make Facebook even more of a video hub. The company told NewTeeVee this week that more than 20 million videos are uploaded to the social networking site every month, with more than 2 billion videos viewed over the same period. The company said in March it gets 415,000 uploads a day, 40% of which come directly from Webcams.

Facebook broke into comScore's ranking of the top video sites in April, with 41.3 million viewers, just ahead of Microsoft's online properties. Truveo will try to capitalize on the growing appetite for video on Facebook by rolling out a feature that lets users track video clips of celebrities when they speak. The technology -- CelebritySearch -- surfaces clips via speech recognition in the audio stream of a video.

Users can also opt to get notifications on Facebook or via email on new TV and celebrity content as well as post celebrity clips on their Facebook Wall to generate comment.

People can also use the Truveo service to share videos with friends and get recommendations based on their likes and interests. "We recognize that Facebook is the online equivalent of the company water cooler where people meet and share information," said Pete Kocks, vice president of Truveo, a unit of AOL. "Our application provides users with a comprehensive index of video, television and celebrity voice content now delivered all in one easy place."

Truveo said it reaches an audience of more than 60 million monthly unique visitors, citing a comScore Custom Media Builder report based on March 2010 data. It powers video search for sites including AOL Video, CBS Radio, Excite, Infospace, Kosmix, and CNET's Search.com. Wider distribution through Facebook, however, could give Truveo a big boost if the app proves popular.