| Tuesday, January 02, 2007 |
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Is YouTube becoming MaybeTube?
Attribute it to the Google deal or not , truth is that things have changed at YouTube. On New Year's Eve, YouTube featured its own celebrities, real world celebs, and then was kind enough to offer a spot to "maybe you!" Maybe? MAYBE YOU, DID I READ THAT RIGHT? (screenshot )
Funny thing is, I was really excited to see what they were cooking up for New Years... But to my disappointment they choose "A listers and Youtube Celebrities." Why would they give another platform to people that already have a huge platform? To be the best it can be, YouTube should continue to give a chance to the unsigned artists , the diamonds in the rough ! Youtube should focus all their enegy on unsigned artists and the diamonds in the rough !
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of lot of these A-listers and youtube "celebs," but why do they need another chance to get even more exposure? I don't go on YouTube to see the rich and famous. I want to see the undiscovered become discovered on an equal playing field, which YouTube has become famous for. But, my dear, longtime friends, have You forgotten what got You to where You are today? I love YouTube as much as the next starving new media artist, and that's why I figured I owe honest feedback.
Why am I so enraged? Featured videos have a sharp advantage over the rest-- careers have been launched, a lot of money has been made, CAUSES HAVE BEEN STARTED, and lives have been changed, usually because something gives the "Feature Editor" a nice laugh. I'm not sure what the motivation is now, but it doesn't ring true to what YouTube strives to be: "a consumer media company"
Why? To use Seth Godin's words : It’s Broken. (As we shared last week, he has some theories on the broken user experience, shared in a pretty funny video). Aside from their NYE decision, here's why YouTube needs fixing:
Firefox Reload. As we all know, video views are an important metric, but now users are able to abuse the system with automatic page views through Firefox Reload . Why hasn't this been fixed ? As one Digg user points out, "It was to youTubes advantage to play dumb on page view fraud, it bosted their numbers too."
Share the wealth I regret not focusing all my attention on promoting my Metacafe video. At least we could have recieved extra funds for our cause through their Producer Awards.
Putting more $$ in Big Pockets. Due to some deal, some major media players get the Director Videos slot on the top of the home page to promote material. According to MediaShift, the Vice President of Communication for CBS would "like to attribute [the big video-view numbers for CBS clips] to the fact that it’s good content." Right, its definitely not attributed to the prime real estate you're given. Without this advantage, our video has 25,000 views, led to a spot on Fox News, and granted one of my wishes (to be announced shortly). Maybe we can attribute it to good content?
They should be more transparent about the process. Or content providers will go else where. Of course, if it's too clear to users what makes a 'good video' then You run the risk of videos catered to those criteria. In my opinion, the community should decide what's best and deserves a spot on the front page, much like a Digg system or Metacafes videorank system.
Higher quality resolution! For example, check out what Stage6 is doing (By the way, a penny is donated for every view of our vidoe on at Stage6). For many content providers, it breaks our hearts to see our video squished down to a blurred video.
I hate when people just complain, so I have solutions and, believe me, they will be posted here at my blog. Here is just one: to make money just put 15 to 30 commercails at the end of the videos. It will be up to the corporations and their creative marketers to make it entertaining enough for the viewer to stick around. I know I wouldn't mind if an ad popped up at the end of a video, and if it was as entertaining as another user video, I would watch it.
In the end, its all about You, and a level playing field. Mark my words now, if I ever have the honor of becoming a YouTube "celeb" (which is the dumbest term I ever heard of because I believe everybody is a celeb on youtube), I don't want to be given special treatment and an unfair advantages over other up and coming stars. I also sincerely hope my MaybeTube theory is disproven, because the online video world will leave them spinning and we'll be left with "WhoTube?"
As Steve Garfield said in 2004, this will be the year of the video bloggers. I'm saying it now: 2007 will be the year video bloggers take over the world. Not convinced? Just check out what my friends are doing my friends.
(And a note to those of you think I'm just bitter: I love YouTube, and that's why I had to make my case on this. Our 8 Wishes video has 27,000 views, and that equates to thousands of people who are helping us make a difference, so thank YouTube! And I'll always love to watch Your videos.)
Here is 8 things you can do below to help me get my wishes!:
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posted by Caridad @ 7:12 AM  |
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| 8 Comments: |
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Great piece on YouTube. I hope they read it. We're rooting for you as you have 7 days to go!!!
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Good Areticle but the formatting (in frefox at any rate) made it hard to read.
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At 13:01:35 local time your site was on the front page of digg with 30 diggs in less then a minute, at 13:02:04 it was gone. Digg owned!
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HA HA. Oh well. Wish people would have read the post! I had a ton of links to back up what I was saying. Digg is not the only place to get traffic :)
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What a great concept. I wish you luck and sucess. I can see that your intentions are full of compassion and love.
Thank You
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Great piece on YouTube. I hope they read it. We're rooting for you as you have 7 days to go!!!