Internet video site Joost today launched its new Flash-based web video service and introduced social networking tools designed to make it easier to share and find videos.

“People have always relied on their friends’ recommendations to figure out which movies they want to watch, or talked about their favorite TV shows and moments with friends and colleagues,” said Joost CEO Mike Volpi, CEO. “ Joost has combined those real-life experiences in one online destination.”

The new website features a number of ways that people can interact with video and with other people on Joost:

• voice opinions about video through comments;
• add “shouts” or tags;
• find out what friends are watching by adding friends through most major online webmail services; 
• interact with others in the Joost community through groups around favorite shows, characters or artists.

Also new is the “JoostFeed”, which aggregates all of the activities that are happening on Joost in order to help guide a person’s Joost experience.

The JoostFeed is viewable on Joost or can be exported to any online social tool or website. Joost also is working with a number of third-party platforms, including Boxee, chumby, Delicious, Digg, FriendFeed, Lifestream, Meebo, Mister Wong, Netlog, Netvibes, reddit and VideoSurf, to make it easier for people to use and access Joost across the web. In addition, Joost will implement Facebook Connect, which allows people to enjoy Joost within the context of their real identity and friendships on Facebook.

While the Flash-based video player is a big improvement, Joost still makes several missteps with its site.

The site plays an intrusive animation every time you visit the home page, instead of delivering useful tools. In addition, watching videos requires signing up for account.

About Joost

Joost has more than 46,000 professionally-produced videos for a total of more than 8,000 hours of video entertainment. Some of Joost’s partners include CBS (Entertainment, News and Sports, and classic library content), Showtime, Last.fm, Wallstrip, Moblogic; Viacom, including Atom, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, The N, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1 programming; television series and full-length feature films from Sony Pictures Television; and the Warner Bros. Television Group, which is partnering with Joost on three branded channels in the U.S.: The WB (featuring complete episodes of hit series, including “Friends,” and original digital productions from TheWB.com), Classic WB TV (boasting full-length episodes of classic favorites from the Warner Bros. collection of series) and WB Sci Fi Fix (featuring complete episodes of the Studio’s most popular science fiction titles).

Joost’s music catalog now includes more than 18,000 music videos from major record labels as well as a number of independent labels.