Online Video...Its Time is Now
It's taken some time but the "hey dude watch this" amateur video is no longer king of online content. More and more people are gaining the attention they deserve by producing serious investigative or think pieces expressly designed for the web. Web 2.0 is the perfect medium for video surpassing even my beloved television.
It's all about time. Viewers can watch online videos at whatever time is best for them. Online video producers are not handcuffed by the time constraints of TV News. The time users spend watching online video can actually be measured accurately, instead of using an antiquated diary ratings system. I know the internet ratings aren't perfect either but give it.....time.
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Well said. I think the
Well said. I think the social promotion mechanisms used in "web 2.0" are helping to employ group voting to select self-made videos that are worth watching. For example, on digg.com, you can hit the front page and see what news stories, videos, and images the community found worth of watching. Of course, if you don't happen to have the same views or general mindset as the "social consciousness" of digg.com users, the videos voted up to the front page may not be of interest to you.
Matt
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Speaking of ratings. I found
Speaking of ratings.
I found the YTD ratings on selected social networks to be quite interesting:
(From 2006 to 2007)
MySpace 55,256,000 - 60,104,000
Facebook 13,110,000 - 22,574,000
Classmates Online 11,406,000 - 10,748,000
AOL Hometown 9,032,000 - 6,853,000
AOL Community 5,213,000 - 4,069,000
(Source: Nielsen Online, ranked by Unique Audience, December 2007. U.S., Home and Work)
It appears the properties promoting video as part of their social network are growing while others are declining. I'm sure it's not all credited to online video but it's interesting to consider. I should admit I don't know much about the AOL properties but I don't think either has a robust video section.
I hate to reply to my own
I hate to reply to my own post but I found this little blub that carries forward the online video dialouge to mobile users.
How People Use Mobile Video
2006
2007
Use iPod To View Video
3%
8%
Use Cell Phone To View Video
3%
6%
Use Laptop Computer To View Video
18%
26%
Source: Knowledge Networks/SRI.
Base = Broadband households.
I'd be interested to know how many people in Austin's High-Tech community regularly watch online videos from a mobile device?
I watched John McCains "I didn't win" speech on my Treo via CNN last night and found the quality to be quite good. Can't say that I watched more than 3 minutes of the speech but that had nothing to do with the quality of the video...it had more to do with the quality of the speech!
Well, I use my laptop most
Well, I use my laptop most often to watch video, either streamed online, or DVD movies. Sometimes I watch podcasts on my iPod, but not that often. Of course, the laptop has the convenience of portable viewing, and the advantage of a sizable screen. The iPod is portable too, but why watch a video on an iPod when I have a laptop (at least around the house)?
My cell phone does not support video (an old blackberry), and besides - if it cost any $$ to download to a cell phone, I wouldn't do it anyway. I'm too cheap to pay for that novelty. :)
Matt
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Could you give an example of
Could you give an example of what you mean, like a URL to a site that does provide investigatory or think piece content?
I'm mainly talking about
I'm mainly talking about mainstream media but there are online reporters making a go of it without having television or newspaper paying the bills.
Here are URLS in no particular order:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/VIDEO01/80125023
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTRqTsS5goM
http://www.ksdk.com/news/investigative/investigations.aspx
http://video.on.nytimes.com/
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/channel?section=news/13_undercover&id=5755213
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/
http://www.wxyz.com/content/news/investigators/default.aspx
If you are looking for non mainstream media video...do a google video search for Investigative or other such words. You can find lots of good stuff out there. With the writers strike, more and more people are discovering online video.
I've been experimenting with
I've been experimenting with live video on justin.tv/austintexas. I think this media would work well for some news events. I may try it out at sxsw this year.