Archive for the ‘YouTube’ Category
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Following the tsunami in Japan, YouTube has stepped up to help connect lost people with their family and friends. The YouTube Person Finder lets users update the most current information on those affected by the Japanese tsunami disaster.
A major Japanese television system, The Tokyo Broadcasting System has been shooting video at shelters around the affected areas of Japan. And these short video messages are being uploaded to the YouTube Person Finder. This search tool lets you search victims by name, home location or shelter. And although English is not supported, Kanji, Katakana and Hirgana character formats are.
Right now, user-submitted content is not integrated in the finder. Supposedly, the thought is that homeless victims wouldn’t have Internet access and web cams anyway. But, this is the start of something big. Imagine adoptees using this tool to find their birth parents. Romantic strangers looking for lost loves. And most importantly, as in the case here, victims and their families.
Way to go YouTube. Here’s to the future.
Tags: internet-consultant, japan, Search-Engine-Optimization, tokyo-broadcasting-system, tsunami, youtube-person-finder
Posted in Digital Video, YouTube | Comments Off
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
The online video rankings have been shaken. While Google sites are still strongly affixed among the top of the charts, Microsoft has jumped 5 spots, into the #2 position, gaining 10.7 million visitors between January and February, according to ComScore.
Microsoft has had quite a year or so with Bing and Windows 7 Mobile, and I’m becoming very glad they’re playing this strong underdog role to Google. Because it keeps Google on their toes. Makes them better.
And who knows? Perhaps Microsoft will come out with a game-changer that makes us rethink the #1 spot. After all, there’s plenty of undiscovered digital territory for the next-generation Magellan to discover. Google’s plans to move to professional-level HD video on YouTube are going to switch things up. We’ll see how Microsoft counters.
Tags: bing, Google, Microsoft, online-video, windows-7-mobile, YouTube
Posted in bing, Digital Video, Google, YouTube | Comments Off
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Do you ever choose what movie you’re going to see based on its feature length? 2 and 1/2 hours!??! Nah, let’s go see the comedy.
We are an A.D.D. culture. We desire to be entertained more quickly than ever before. And grow weary when we are not. Before you accuse of me of hypocritically preaching Luddite messages while blogging, let me clarify that I think this dissatisfaction is, in general, a good thing.
We have become pickier. And this causes the level of entertainment as a whole to rise. But I want to know how close we are to getting sick of the 30 minute sitcom. Because YouTube keeps getting bigger and bigger. And more and more celebrities (aka Justin Bieber) are finding their starts there.
And now it looks like YouTube might pay celebrities to come back. With super talented, but no-name video innovators making 6-figure salaries through ad revenue alone on their YouTube channels, imagine the kind of audience that real celebrities could get?
The strategy? Celebrities create and own 3-minute long shows. And get $5 million for it. That’s right. So, imagine what YouTube must think their presence is worth?
Could your favorite TV channels in the future end up being ones living on YouTube?
Tags: advertising-on-google, justin-bieber, social-media-marketing, YouTube
Posted in Blogging, Google, Social Media, YouTube | Comments Off
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Billboard has forever been the boss of music metrics. And now, Billboard has introduced a new chart to their litany of rankings called the “Social 50“, which makes up the most popular artists in terms of mentions on social networking sites.
This chart will rank an artist’s popularity using a formula that combines weekly follower additions, page views and song plays on MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, iLike and Facebook.
It will be interesting to see if the Social 50 closely matches iTunes and CD sales, or if it gives a glimpse of some indie artists that are more effectively interacting with their fan base than those artists who are part of a larger record label.
Tags: billboard, facebook, ilike, MySpace, social-50, social-media-marketing, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in facebook, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
It’s nice that Google has figured out a way for YouTube to become profitable over the last couple of years. The problem for viewers is that this monetization often involves annoying advertising distractions. At first, YouTubers figured out that by immediately refreshing the video, they would be able to skip these 15-second video ads that precede even short videos (a much worse ad-to-content ratio than even cable television).
But that trick no longer works. And viewers are getting mad. And online advertisers enjoy being positive interruptions, not negative ones. So, YouTube is rethinking their current strategy with YouTube TrueView, a Hulu mimic that allows users to both choose their preferred video and to skip them outright.
For advertisers looking solely for total views, in terms of a sheer imaging campaign, this will be worse. But, now online advertisers get a more engaged audience – one who has either chosen to watch their ad, or has not chosen to skip it. Win. Win. Win.
Tags: adwords-ppc-management, google-advertising, Hulu, online-video, trueview, YouTube
Posted in Digital Video, Google, Google AdWords, YouTube | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Kids like Formspring. Kids like YouTube. As they get older, they get into Twitter. What’s the practical takeaway from that? Well, for the newly launched VYou, the answer is to combine all three.
At least, that’s what people have been comparing this new video site to. In reality, for those of you familiar with the Formspring format of being sent anonymous questions that a user can choose to publicly answer, it’s identical to that – only the answers all take place via video.
Now, what this format lends itself to is creating categorical “experts”. You have a question on martial arts? Go ask “Dojo Dave”. Sports question? Ask “Philly Steak Blamwich”. You get the idea. And you can follow your favorite users and see every time they post a response.
It’s hard to predict what this site will evolve to become. Teens seem to love Formspring. But a lot of the appeal is to due to its ability to anonymously ask questions to guys are girls you have a crush on. And that’s inevitably what most of the conversations become. Whereas, I see VYou becoming both a video answers site along with a celebrity and comedian fan club.
Tags: Formspring, internet-consulting, social-media-marketing, Twitter, VYou, YouTube
Posted in Digital Video, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube | Comments Off
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
By the way, go see The Social Network. It’s awesome. And speaking of Facebook, they’re evolving once again.
It looks like Facebook has been experimenting with updates to its commenting plugin, including threaded comments, voting and more. Now, this could be huge for both on- and off-Facebook platforms. Specifically, the idea of using Facebook commenting as the social section of your blogs, sites and more.
The threaded commenting system would allow readers to see some additional info about the users, including their profile preview and comment count. But, the voting system could vastly improve the chronological system that Facebook currently utilizes. YouTube is a great example of an effective comment moderation system. A couple of comments with the most positive feedback (thumbs ups, which would obviously be “likes” on Facebook) move to the top, and the rest of the comments appear chronologically.
This simple democratic moderation of comments would be a vast improvement to Facebook’s system. And it looks like it’s coming soon. And the sooner third-party systems can incorporate this on their sites, the sooner Facebook has yet another connectivity explosion.
Tags: comment-moderation, facebook, internet-consulting, social-media-marketing, threaded-comments, YouTube
Posted in Blogging, facebook, YouTube | Comments Off
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
A fascinating study from Forrester Research has just come out to show that while worldwide adoption of social media is exponentially increasing, content creation itself has experienced no growth in the past year.
Now, this actually makes a whole lot of sense. It’s supply and demand. There is so much great content now readily available to the masses. Why make your own stuff, that’s probably worse, when you can spend all day finding and spreading really great stuff?
The numbers behind these stats? 33% of U.S. consumers watch user-generated video. But only 10% actually create original content themselves. That’s 1 producer for every 3 consumers. And maybe that’s enough. After all, there’s only so many hours in the day to watch cats fall off furniture on YouTube. Not enough time to film my own.
Tags: content-creation, mobile-marketing, social-media-marketing, YouTube
Posted in mobile-marketing, Social Media, YouTube | Comments Off
Friday, October 1st, 2010
Now, YouTube users can sync up their YouTube feed with MySpace, so that every video they upload automatically gets distributed through their MySpace account.
The four existing MySpace users are reported to be ecstatic about this slight time-saver. Sorry, that was an attempt at satire. Honestly, it’s hard to know what to make of MySpace. Sure, this is a cool feature. But, what is MySpace now? Is it for bands? Because iLike and iTunes’ Ping have been beating on that door. Is it trying to be Facebook? Good luck.
Perhaps MySpace is hoping to be exactly what this new feature signals. They’re ok being an afterthought. They know that there’s a decent amount of people that still use MySpace. And they’re grateful for the content that this new sync will create, making MySpace appear current and lively.
Tags: ilike, internet-marketing, itunes, MySpace, Ping, social-media-marketing, YouTube
Posted in facebook, Google, Social Media, YouTube | Comments Off
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
The iPad is gaining some competition in the tablet market. Not yet from Microsoft, which we’ve been writing about recently at Windy City Strategies. But, Dell has officially announced that pre-sale orders for its new Dell Streak Tablet start today.
The most interesting thing about its advertised pricing structure… is that there’s a pricing structure. They’re taking the iPhone route and have hooked up with AT&T. Buying the Android-run Dell Streak along with a new two-year AT&T contract will cost you $299.99. Without it, the price skyrockets up to $549.99.
I just don’t get it. Yes, the Dell Streak is a phone, too. But it’s a tablet competitor more than a phone competitor, isn’t it? And I’m not sure an expensive data connection is so important for the average consumer. After all, Wi-Fi comes standard on the Dell Streak. And while it would be nice to have 3G connectivity at all times, is it worth buying a new wireless contract just to get it?
It’s almost as if Dell is trying to create a new space between phones and tablets. We’ll need to see some user experience testing before we make a verdict on this one. If anything, all these new “tablets” are surely going to keep Apple on their toes.
The Dell Streak Tablet features:
- 5 in. widescreen display optimized for mobile web, video and movies
- Android Market-ready for widgets, games and applications
- Built in Wi-Fi and bluetooth capability
- Turn-by-turn satellite navigation with integrated Google Maps
- Social-media integration with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
- High resolution 5 MP camera
- 2GB* of internal storage
Tags: 3g, android, apple-ipad, dell-streak-tablet, mobile-marketing, social-media-marketing
Posted in android, Apple, facebook, mobile-marketing, Smartphones, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube | Comments Off
Facebook Looks to Add Grading to Comments
Friday, October 22nd, 2010By the way, go see The Social Network. It’s awesome. And speaking of Facebook, they’re evolving once again.
It looks like Facebook has been experimenting with updates to its commenting plugin, including threaded comments, voting and more. Now, this could be huge for both on- and off-Facebook platforms. Specifically, the idea of using Facebook commenting as the social section of your blogs, sites and more.
The threaded commenting system would allow readers to see some additional info about the users, including their profile preview and comment count. But, the voting system could vastly improve the chronological system that Facebook currently utilizes. YouTube is a great example of an effective comment moderation system. A couple of comments with the most positive feedback (thumbs ups, which would obviously be “likes” on Facebook) move to the top, and the rest of the comments appear chronologically.
This simple democratic moderation of comments would be a vast improvement to Facebook’s system. And it looks like it’s coming soon. And the sooner third-party systems can incorporate this on their sites, the sooner Facebook has yet another connectivity explosion.
Tags: comment-moderation, facebook, internet-consulting, social-media-marketing, threaded-comments, YouTube
Posted in Blogging, facebook, YouTube | Comments Off