[awj]

I'm not sure the original idea (hold a video hostage in exchange for tweets) can be improved. It's rather user-hostile.

What might be worthwhile is the social-media-isize your video feature. An easy-to-use tool for embedding twitter/facebook/linkedin/whatever posting inside the video sounds relatively useful. Maybe have this stuff pop up when the user pauses the video, or when it ends.

Demanding that people do your advertising for you is a death sentence for using social media. You want to enable them to advertise for you, forcing it just fosters ill will.

[smackfu]

Especially when you combine it with how people following a link on HN are expecting an article, not a video. So having to watch the video itself is the first barrier, and the tweeting ends up as the second barrier.