Storybids is a (relatively) simple and useful web service for video producers and media ad buyers. They connect those with creative ideas for product placement with advertisers who want to place their products in user generated videos, mini-dramas, and webisodes, music videos, and online commercials.
How does it work for us, video producers? Using Storybids' powerful creative and auction house tools, you can sell your creative ideas, embodied in your videos, to advertisers who want to place their products. You get your work noticed, the advertiser gets product placement and you get paid for your work. Pretty cool, huh?
How does it work for your prospective advertiser? Storybids enables ad buyers to review the videos you upload and make available for bidding. This minimizes their risk and maximizes their ads’ potential impact, when it comes to distribution online through social networks, viral marketing, and video sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, and Facebook.
Automatic distribution and traffic tracking Storybids provides distribution and video analytics measurement by optimizing finalized video for search engines and submitting to several video hosting sites such as YouTube, MySpaceTV, Veoh, Metacafe, DailyMotion and others simultaneously allowing dashboard reporting on the video’s performance via views, comments and ratings aggregated across the various video sites.
SlideShare, a mix between PowerPoint and YouTube now allows you to embed YouTube videos into your Flash-based presentations.
Now you can:
1. Include personal introductions in your slideshows 2. Offer video that supports the contents of the rest of the presentation 3. Include demonstrations of a website’s features.
Until now, adding video in to your presentation meant that you had to include links to separate video files, which sort of defeated the purpose of having a really simple way to share PowerPoint presentations.
Keep in mind that it isn’t currently possible to make a video auto-play; also you must deal with YouTube’s standard "feature" of linking to a video’s YouTube address whenever you accidentally click outside of the "Play" arrow. Other than that, it’s a great addition to the service. Also notable, that while this is the first time SlideShare has supported embedded video, the site has allowed users to embed audio alongside their slideshows since 2007.
You can check out a sample slideshow below.
SlideShare also launched an impressive "cloud-based" feature that ties your native PowerPoint client your SlideShare account.
Similar online services include SlideRocket, DocStoc, Scribd, SlideSix, and SlideBoom.
At long last, the goal of marrying television and the Internet seems to be happening!
New TV sets that come with networking connections built directly into them require no additional set-top boxes to get online. At the same time, many viewers are finding more attractive entertainment and information choices on the Internet -- and have already set up home networks for their PCs and laptops that can also move video and other multimedia content to their TV sets.
Amid other developments pegged to the just concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo Inc. and Intel Corp. also announced support from several major consumer-electronics companies to sell TV sets that come with software, dubbed widgets, that make it easier to call up Web content on TV sets using ordinary remote controls rather than computer keyboards.
"You are going to see very broad adoption of this open technology by the best brands in the TV industry -- not just for specialty products but deeply penetrated in their product lines," said Patrick Barry, Yahoo's vice president of connected TV in Vegas.
While similarly optimistic statements have been made by industry executives since the mid-1990s, the topic remains a hot one in high-tech circles because of the potential impact on existing business models in the entertainment industry. Instead of the often expensive packages of video content from cable and satellite providers, the Internet could theoretically deliver a much wider array of entertainment and information choices -- many of them free.
Intel, Apple, and others have promoted specially tailored PCs, set-top boxes, and other new devices to bring video from the Internet to living-room TV sets. Computer makers now believe we will be more receptive, as Internet connections become a standard feature on TV sets, high-definition movie players and videogame consoles.
"The number of people who watch an entire TV show on their laptops has tripled," says Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist who is director of the user experience group in Intel's digital-home group. But Ms. Bell says research by the company also suggests that many people also have extremely strong bonds to their TV sets. So any effort to add Internet content needs to be just as simple and not interfere with the experiences and behavior patterns the users enjoy. That means, she says, using a conventional remote control -- not some kind of computer keyboard, or a PC-style Web browser of the sort that emerged as a TV option in the 1990s.
These findings are one reason why Intel -- which in 2007 abandoned an effort to promote multimedia PCs under Viiv -- became a supporter of what Yahoo calls the Widget Channel. Their collaboration is designed to create a standard way for Web services to be unobtrusively offered up on TV sets.
The widget displays a strip of icons for Web offerings on the bottom of a TV screen, while traditional programming plays above. Click on one of the icons with the remote and it opens a larger window on the left side of the screen. Click again and the window will take up the entire screen. You could pull up an Internet weather report, for example, or photos stored on Yahoo's Flickr service.
Yahoo and its hardware partners initially will act as gatekeepers in overseeing such offerings -- a bit like Apple does with its store for iPhone software, but they plan to keep the process open and non-discriminatory. Intel plans to offer chips to manage the widget software in Internet-equipped TV sets and set-top boxes, but its hardware will not be required.
However, there is a downside...
The technology required to include Internet capabilities in TV sets does add about $300 more than comparably-sized sets without online capabilities.
Are YOU willing to fork over that much money in this recession? And if not now, when?
A new TV show based on one of my favorite magazines, MAKE, debuted online and on public television (broadcast / cable tv) just a few weeks ago. Being from the old school, I prefer reading, but hey, this blog is for the print copy challenged. OK, just kidding….
Each half-hour episode hopes to inspire you to think create, and, well, make. Also, each episode can be viewed or downloaded DRM-free (that is without any digital right management wrapper), in HD from makezine.tv. The show is also available on Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.tv and iTunes.
Making it to the show is now easy. Making time for it is hard.
Cybercast credit: Blip.tv
January 5, 2009
Getting your message out on YouTube can be now “semi-automated” with the introduction of Tube Toolbox. Tube Toolbox is YouTube software often referred to as a "YouTube Friend Bot", "YouTube Friend Adder", "Social Marketing Software", "Video Marketing Software" or simply a "YouTube Marketing Tool".
Youtube Takeover bills this software as a “revolutionary software that will forever change the way you approach marketing on YouTube” It promises to:
* Get Friends * Get Video Views * Get Profile Views * Get Subscribers * Get Exposure
for you, your product, service, or whatever else you're hawking. Here is how it's supposed to work:
Specifically, Tube Toolbox is a "Friend Bot," that automates Friend Requests, Messages, Comments, and Sharing Videos. Set up a few parameters, click 'Start' and walk away. It will then work with your friends list, increase subscribers, increase channel views, increase video views, gain popularity, get into the top videos section, with the ultimate result being an increasing your exposure.
For example, using Tube Toolbox, you can send 100's or 1000's of Friend Requests, Messages, Comments or Subscription Invites, after setting up your parameters and clicking a start button.
I’m tempted to conduct a use-test, except for the fact that’s touted as “revolutionary software,” which immediately sends the wrong signal to me. If you’re a brave soul, will you let me and other readers know of your experience? Thanks!
Just about a month ago YouTube was testing high-definition videos. It seems like this feature is now officially released. A large number of videos that fulfilled YouTube's criteria for HD encoding now sport a "Watch in HD" button instead of the old "Watch in high quality." While I have not seen any official statement from YouTube yet, you can already find a lot of HD videos on YouTube if you do a search for 'HD' on the site.
Until now Until now you could only see these HD versions if you added "&fmt=22" to a YouTube URL and it was almost impossible to know which video would work in HD. The quality is really amazing and rivals that of some of YouTube's closest competitors like Vimeo.
The price Yes, there IS a price. Actually a requirement that might cost you some extra money -- you do need at least a 5 Megabit (download) broadband connection to watch HD videos without constant stuttering and buffering.
In the last couple of weeks YouTube has also rolled out a wide variety of new features, including the new wide-screen format (which was clearly in preparation for this release) and the addition of over 25 thousand new songs from music licensing firm Rumblefish, plus its AudioSwap feature.
Game-Changer The new HD videos, however, are clearly a game-changer. Web video always had the contention of having relatively sub-standard video quality; being generally grainy; and also hard to watch ( especially YouTube). Now, you could easily put up a screencast, movie, or video on YouTube in HD see it in its full 720p glory.
We will look back on the years from 2006 until the end of this decade, as the remake of television into Internet TV. I know people who have cancelled their cable TV contracts and exclusively watch TV on the Internet. We see better and better quality user-generated content too.
Big Cable vs. Ma Bell(s) Time Warner, Cox, Comcast, and ilk are holding onto their hegemony for as long as they can, lobbying politicians and FCC officials, while Verizon and AT&T lay the fibers for a truly amazing high-definition experience (or so they promise). When there's a TV program I want to watch, even if it's not on Fox or ABC, I can go to Hulu (soon to YouTube too). However, I’m not a Hulu acolyte and use it only as a starting point when I need to find something I want. Hulu does well enough today, but it doesn't get me to YouTube.
Building the infrastructure is a tricky business Quality streaming over varying connection speeds has now become a reality. Thanks to companies like Move Networks, we've got technologies like adaptive bit rate adjustment; now even the CDNs are starting to build this in. Watch something on Hulu and you'll see that the quality is pretty superb.
Monetizing content and paying for the infrastructure have proven to be even trickier. At the end it all comes back to how everyone will make money, a subject upon which there has been hardly ant agreement, and relatively little success.
The experiments are fun to watch, though - especially from the receiving end. How is yours?
I produced and uploaded a new into video for CarbonTicker’s Carbon Savings Account through TubeMogul, on November 9 around 10 PM. (Yes, I work (some) Sunday nights…). I then decided to compare the transmission and service quality one can expect from these sites today. I collected data between November 10 and November 12. Must say this exercise has turned out to be a real eye-opener - literally.
Obviously, all of these video sharing services are free, so this is definitely NOT a “gripe-fest.” What you have here is a “quick and dirty” look at the state of web video today, based on the following criteria:
Video availability 24 hours after upload: Yes = 10, No = 0 Image clarity: Download speed: Ease of obtaining embed code: Pre-roll ad tagged-on: Yes = 0, No = 10 Points: 0 - 10, 10 being best for image clarity, download speed, and
Here we go:
YouTube upload: Success
Video availability 24 hours after upload: Yes - 10 Image clarity: 5 Download speed: 10 Ease of obtaining embed code: 10 Pre-roll ad tagged-on: No - 10
Yahoo upload: Success
Video availability 24 hours after upload: Yes - 10 Image clarity: 7 Download speed: 10 Ease of obtaining embed code: 10 Pre-roll ad tagged-on: No - 10
MyStudio is a self-contained high definition (HD) interactive audio/video recording studio designed for installation in shopping malls and other high traffic areas. It promises to deliver you high quality from the proprietary recording system built into this stand-alone booth. MyStudio and its accompanying website, www.mystudio.net, make use of some the world’s leading internet and entertainment properties: the video sharing of YouTube, the social networking aspects of MySpace and FaceBook and talent based contests made popular by American Idol, all in a single entertainment package.
For a $20 fee, you can record an HD video with the ease and convenience only available before to pro filmmakers. Think about creating videos for music, modeling, comedy, dating, job resumes, auditions, personal messages, greetings, and… (no not THAT.) Using Hollywood-style green screen technology, you can:
1. Choose from hundreds of virtual backgrounds 2. Receive a DVD of their session onsite 3. Have your video automatically uploaded to the MyStudio website 4. Share your video from your member profile page 5. Enter your videos into monthly, industry sponsored music, modeling and comedy contests 6. Or send them to talent, dating or job search agencies
MyStudio commenced production of its first 5 studios on April 8, 2008 and expects to install them in strategic locations in Arizona, California, Nevada and New York in the third quarter of 2008. Shortly thereafter we expect to begin a nationwide roll-out in all 50 states followed by international installations.
The first booth is now operating in the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. The company promises new installations in California, Nevada and New York this quarter, following a nationwide roll-out in all 50 states and overseas.
MTV has just launched MTVMusic.com, where they offer over 16,000 music videos a la YouTube, but with fewer notices and DMCA takedowns. This, however, is offset by the six separate agreements and privacy statements that must be accepted. Thankfully, at the time of writing the MTV Music website was making this process easier, by having you click off only a single checkbox. With Firefox as your browser, even that’s automated, as it will check the accept box whenever any agreement is viewed.
Here is “Viva Mozilla!” from Rick Astley … not really, but “Never Gonna Give You Up” is close enough for MTV fans.
Primarily designed for web developers, application builders, and mash-up makers, there's a lot you can do with the MTV Networks Content API. Here are a few sample projects:
• Build a music video gallery of MTV, VH1, CMT or LOGO artists. • Create an application to send music video dedications to friends on Facebook, MySpace, Flux or just about any other social network. • Mine our expansive music video archive to create the music application of your dreams. • Fashion a WordPress plug-in to dynamically pull music videos into blog posts.
For proof that the we, the viewers, want to be in charge, look no further than the Summer Olympics. Not only did the opening ceremony in Beijing have a gigantic DVR audience of 3.25 million viewers, but NBC said 40% of its online viewers used the Web to view events they had first seen on TV.
In today’s media environment, consumers have come to expect getting online content whenever they want, from TVs and personal computers to iPods and mobile devices. We, as brand and content owners have two options for packaging and delivering online content for viewer consumption:
1. LIVE STREAMING
Streaming fits well with our PC-centric viewing habits. Streaming is ideal for watching instant clips and user-generated content, like YouTube videos, on a computer. With a broadband connection, streaming is capable of delivering smooth playback, giving us that immediate, “I can get it now” effect.
While watching Michael Phelps repeat his gold medal wins from the comfort of a living room has inherent value for both consumers and advertisers, the real explosion in online media will take place when content becomes available anytime, anywhere. This is the “always on” future, and the enormous popularity of the iPhone is a huge step forward in making it a reality. However, today’s infrastructure cannot handle the streaming demands - at least not for portable content. A recent report by Canaccord Adams concluded that AT&T’s network is reaching capacity due to heavy data traffic usage from the iPhone; in some urban areas, subscribers are having problems making a simple phone call. So, until infrastructure improves, publishers need to provide alternatives to satisfy consumers’ demand for portable content.
This brings us to the second option, downloadable media, which picks up where streaming doesn’t deliver. While not as immediate as streaming, downloadable media gives consumers the flexibility and control they’ve come to expect.
2. DOWNLOADABLE MEDIA
From the DVR to the iPod, viewers prefer downloading their content because it’s more convenient. Downloading gives you the ability to time-shift and place-shift your programs — not just short clips — and watch them on your device of choice, when you want and with no Internet connection required.
This is why downloadable media offers the greatest potential for content owners. The question, as always, is finding a viable business model to support it.
As a publisher, you might assume that downloading is akin to giving away the farm. It looks like untethered media — free from the restraints of distribution channels, time and space — is (maybe) paid for once. A consumer who uses iTunes or LimeWire to download your content disappears into the content jungle, never to be seen again. No tracking opportunities, no way to garner additional revenue.
However, revenue possibilities are actually far richer with downloadable media. Just look at podcasting. Podcasting may not get the attention it used to, but that’s only because it’s become an everyday activity. eMarketer estimates that 65 million Americans will be using it as a distribution channel by 2012. Video and audio podcasts are simply RSS-enabled downloads that afford two big advantages:
A) For viewers, it’s an easy way to get fresh content automatically.
B) For publishers, it offers a built-in syndication platform that reaches audiences across the increasingly fragmented Web and device landscape.
New technology is also making it possible to extend our revenue stream by inserting ads into, say, our podcast programming. Aside from gaining an additional revenue stream, we can receive comprehensive metrics to track results and price future ads more appropriately.
With downloading, barriers to participation are low — even with embedded ads. Consumers have signaled they are agreeable to short ads in return for free premium content, like an MSNBC program.
Podcasting is just the beginning. Once we can track and measure direct, untethered downloads, the media industry may finally be able to unlock all of that great content on the Internet and everywhere else.
* Gas for less than two dollars! * 15 percent flat tax! * Good pay for honest executives only! * All terrorists' eyes for one victim's eye! * Judiciously applied political incorrectness! * Much more to come!!!
Delivered to you courtesy of The Summit Group, tsgnet.com and YouTube.
WOW - Now the fine print I received in an email from YouTube:
Your video "Vote for Obama ? McCain ? NO ! Steve Kingsley in 2008!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akwArklQUBo) has been identified by YouTube's Content Identification program (http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83766) as containing copyrighted content which Suburban Noize Records, Inc. claims is theirs.
Your video "Vote for Obama ? McCain ? NO ! Steve Kingsley in 2008!" is still available because Suburban Noize Records, Inc. does not object to this content appearing on YouTube at this time. As long as Suburban Noize Records, Inc. has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video's page.
Claim Details:
Copyright owner: Suburban Noize Records, Inc. ====================================== Content claimed: Some or all of the audio and visual content ================================================ Policy: Allow this content to remain on YouTube.
* Place advertisements on this video's watch page. Applies to these locations: Everywhere
Suburban Noize Records, Inc. claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification program. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video / audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos.
If you believe that this claim was made in error, or that you are otherwise authorized to use the content at issue, you can dispute this claim with Suburban Noize Records, Inc. and view other options in the Video ID Matches (http://youtube.com/my_videos_copyright) section of your YouTube account. Please note that YouTube does not mediate copyright disputes between content owners. Learn more about video identification disputes (http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=83768).
Sincerely, The YouTube Content Identification Team
Christine from lookandtaste.com just notified me about the name change - iFoods.tv has become LookAndTaste.com. I do like the new name; however I'll stick with the "look" part....
For starters, iFoods.tv offers over 140 step by step video recipes, with a further 200 planned for production over the next 18 months, and a ‘foodie’ social network. They claim to have over 7,000 members already on the site and over 1000 user generated videos uploaded. Features such as the iFoods blog, blog profiles, and the blog league are designed to develop the community further. iFoods’ aim is to become the ultimate online destination for food lovers of the iPod and YouTube generation.
And get this: Rather than using guesswork to navigate through a recipe, you are expertly and seamlessly instructed, step by step, by a professional chef. Can you see this taking place in your kitchen with your iPhone decked up to instruct you as you are preparing your culinary masterpiece of brandied apple-pie? (OK, I’ve made this up … it’s not far-fetched, though. Maybe I should dabble too…?)
According to the company:
“All iFoods recipes are researched and market tested at length for both practicality and relevance to their target audience. They will also create and post content throughout the year to coincide with seasonal festivities such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving.
The hugely talented iFoods culinary team has over 40 years of combined experience and is backed up by strong business management. All members of the team have risen through their respective fields to achieve success and acclaim. Niall Harbison and Pieter Plaetinck have achieved culinary success having worked for some of the world’s richest and most famous people including Bill Gates, Donald Trump and the Sultan of Brunei.”
Sounds appetizing to me … with or without Bill, The Donald and the Sultan!
It has taken a while (actually only two years since Google acquired AdScape in 2006), but the search giant may have come up with another winner comparable to AdSense. No loss for Adsense - it is incorporated in the AdSense for Games software.
As an advertiser, you can use the software to insert ads into games or videos for YouTube, making the ads more versatile. As a Flash video game developer, you can also designate the points in a game that make an “ad request.”
Playfish, a maker of casual games such as “Who Has the Biggest Brain?” on Facebook, has been testing the in-game ads for months. In their adaptation the Google software rolls a 30-second video at the end of a game session that includes a game character saying that the free game was brought to you by a sponsor.
Besides Playfish, other game publishers that will also incorporate AdSense for Games technology include Zynga, the hot social gaming company, and Konami, one of Japan’s biggest game companies. The latter will publish a line of Flash titles — including “Track and Field,” “Frogger,” and “Dance Dance Revolution” — with the Google in-game ads.
Google launched Lively, its 3D rooms and avatars, earlier this summer. It looks very much like a natural vehicle for AdSense for Games, which could insert ads into the rooms of users, for example. Just what we all need....
There are millions of videos up on YouTube, but thousands have also been removed, and not always with the owner's permission. If any footage online can be accused of copyright violation YouTube will take it down, whether or not the accusation was justified. I did report on one of this kind of incident last September, when Viacom had Chris Knight's video removed, after claiming his footage as its own. Stealing anyone? If Viacom and company can, so can we, right?
YouTomb, a research project by the MIT Free Culture student group, tracks the top videos removed from the service for copyright violation, and retains the metadata about the videos so we, the public, can make our own decision about whether the removal was justified or not.
Free Culture -- what a great name and service! I appreciate it VERY MUCH!
YouTube may have captured the largest video audience, but that doesn't mean there aren't still plenty of niches to exploit. AniBoom is tapping into an impassioned community of video animators to create content that could capture some of that YouTube-sized audience.
AniBoom is different from most other video sites in one important respect: Almost all of its content is created by members. Sites like YouTube are, shall we say, suspected for having content ripped off from other sources.
By comparison, they even have its own software tools: Shapeshifter, that you can use to make professional-quality animation and Micro-Smotion, which can add simple animated tidbits to regular video.
Like other sites, most of the existing content is stuff you wouldn't want to bother watching. AniBoom is counting on what they call “the star factor” — from any large group of people, a few exceptional individuals are bound to come forth.
AniBoom's CEO, Uri Shinar, compares the possibilities of his site by referencing Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who were unknown talents making short clips until a Fox executive groomed them, leading to the hit cartoon South Park. AniBoom attempts to replicate this success in its Creator's Series, although none seems to have had more than a few thousand views.
However, the South Park comparison is apt in more than one way. The Stone and Parker creation that led Fox to contact them was a quirky student animation of Jesus killing a deranged snowman. Many of the videos on AniBoom are similarly odd, to say the least.
The site also runs contests offering cash prizes, which seem to attract quite a few submissions, proving that the world's junior animators are eager for both fame and money.
Although there are other animation sites around, like Crunchyroll, AniBoom is one of the only sites encouraging indie content. Another is MyToons, which just launched. Check them all out!
Seesmic’s video service is specifically about enabling asynchronous video conversations for you. That means, in plain English, off-line recording of your message or reply for your video chat. They are also about to add slew of new features, including private groups, the option to block individual users from your Seesmic player, and letting users flag offensive content (e.g. porn).
While search is a currently a big problem for them, they plan to address it in several ways:
(1) Give you the option of adding meta-data to your videos (description, tags, etc.) (2) Employ automated audio-to-text software to create transcripts, and (3) Since Seesmic videos are already on Google, enable you to use Google Video search.
With apps for both Facebook and OpenSocial slated to be released in August, Seesmic hopes to draw more teen and college-age users.
One of the problems with following conversations on Seesmic is that unlike text, there isn't a way to skim through video. Some people just take longer to get their point across. Assuming a 2-minute per video average, a conversation involving 60 posts/replies would take two hours to view from start to finish. Pierre Omidyar, a board member, started a Seesmic thread on the possibility of limiting videos to 30 seconds (a la twitter), but for the moment, there are no plans for that. But there are plans for tools to filter out long videos and to display limited portions for faster viewing.
One month after their public launch, here are some key metrics:
• 23,000 unique users from 25 countries (about 50% are from the U.S.) • 3,000 videos are uploaded each day (total of slightly more than 300K videos) • Average length of a video is 2 minutes • 30 million page views (doesn't include videos viewed through their API) - VERY IMPRESSIVE!
The Seesmic community not only provides valuable input for the product team, they have also put together impressive mashups and visualizations.
for people conversing in sign language, and a visual of conversations related to the recently released French hostage, Ingrid Betancourt. If you download the PicLens http://milliondollarwebtv.com/makeitvblog/?p=261
Firefox plugin, a Seesmic user created a fun tool to help you quickly navigate all the videos posted by a particular user: try this sample search ("junemarshall") and set options to 3D Wall. Seesmic has, very wisely, partnered with a number of web services, to enable you to make the most of your video chats:
Disqus makes your comments more interactive for readers and easier to manage for you — all while connecting your community with other blogs.
FriendFeed keeps you up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends.
NetVibes lets individuals assemble all-in-one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.
ShoZu use ShoZu to instantly post your camera phone videos to Seemsic. Simply capture the moment, and with a click, post your blog quality or full res (up to 10MB in size!) video to your Seesmic community. Why wait until you're back in front of a computer to post your videos?
SproutBuilder is the quick and easy way for anyone to build, publish, and manage widgets, mini-sites, mashups, banners and more.
Twhirl allows users to access the Twitter service directly from their desktop, and also cross post to other services like Pownce and Jaiku.
WordPress is a semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
Zong is the only web service that enables you to create and launch mobile services in 10 countries in under 10 minutes and generate revenues from each transaction.
I’ll report back to you on some of these as I check them out.
I have just completed a post here about the awesome power of viral marketing. I have shown three examples of videos that have been watched over 1,000,000 times apiece!! In fact, one video has been viewed over 60,000,000 times on its own! The perfect example of friends telling friends. Mind you, those friends have been told for a very good reason, as the up skirt shots (sorry girls) are hilarious (and yes I admit, quite sexy), as is the evolution of dance.
But that is not the reason for this post. When video first came online it was relatively easy to get your videos on page 1 in Google. Then of course, everyone started to do it and Google changed their algorithm. It then became a lot harder to get your video on page 1 and you had to do a whole heap of other stuff, including probably the hardest of all, namely getting your video popular first, without the aid of a page 1 listing. Then Google bought YouTube. It took a while, but Google looks after Google.
Things have changed my friend -- just look at this for evidence:
If you click on the image, the full size image will open in a new window. There you have it. My two videos occupying no. 1 AND no. 2 spot for a lucrative search term. There are many more examples I can show you, but I'm not going to give all my secrets away here. Tell you what I'll do though, if you sign up for the pre launch list at TellAFriendzy (it's free), I will tell you the exact steps I took to achieve these spectacular results. Sign up today!!
Technorati Tags: tell a friend, tell a friend forms for marketing, tell a friend email, free tell a friend, tell a friend script, viral marketing, viral marketing examples, viral marketing and sports, viral marketing campaign, marketing viral, online viral marketing, viral marketing software, word of mouth marketing, word of mouth
A growing number of digital video and ad providers are challenging TV's hold on visual quality with better technology and services. The quickened pace of High Definition TV deployment was expected to slow the exodus of viewers to online offerings.
This hasn't happened. Just the opposite seems to be the case. How come?
The reason this strategy doesn't appear to be working is that the online tv and video sites are also upgrading to HDTV quality web casting. And they have a built-in advantage: the cost is much less and the technology much more flexible, being mostly software based, than the (mostly) hardware based infrastructure necessary for the broadcast and cable companies.
Examples abound:
1. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VIDEOS viewed was 10.1 billion during a record-breaking December 2007, according to the comScore Video Metrix service.
2. YouTube accounted for 3.3 billion videos viewed online in the U.S. in January.
3. Google sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property in January with nearly 3.4 billion videos viewed (34.3% share of videos), gaining 1.7 share points vs. the previous month.
4. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 584 million (6%).
5. Yahoo! sites served 315 million videos (3.2%).
6. Microsoft sites came in with 199 million (2%) videos watched in January.
7. Vimeo, a video-sharing site owned by Barry Diller's IAC, began distributing user-generated videos in HD late last year.
8. The peer-to-peer Web TV powerhouse Joost also offers high-resolution content.
9. Just a few week ago, the NBC/News Corp. co-venture Hulu launched to the public with limited HD content, as one of the first tests of the new Adobe Flash Player, which supports streaming HD.
10.Rumors are also flying that Yahoo intends to integrate video into Flickr very soon, perhaps in the next three weeks. Part of the delay may have been a long internal debate about how to make Flickr Video special and distinct from what YouTube already offers.
BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti actually believes the Web is better suited for delivering HD content than TV. "HDTV penetration is just 33% of U.S. households, while right now advertisers can use HD content to reach over 65% of all Internet consumers." Sacerdoti says. BrightRoll is an online video advertising firm founded just two years ago in 2006.
The way I see it, as an ad serving company they must have the ability and the need to track video viewing statistics and trends very closely -- although I wonder how anyone can define trends on less than two years' worth of data.
Cooliris, a startup that’s been developing dynamic and immersive new ways to browse the web, continues to roll out new features for its PicLens browser plug-in. Most promising of the new features is the search capability for video site YouTube.
When PicLens launched last June, I was impressed by its ability to browse photo sites like Flickr. Since then, it looks like the service has gotten a lot more sophisticated, creating an image browsing interface that The New York Times describes as “a three-dimensional space that feels like an unending hallway of images.” In essence, your browser disappears and you fly around in front of a wall of content. Sort of like the Apple’s Quick Look and Cover Flow.
This interface moves PicLens beyond other online slideshow companies like Slide and Rockyou, into a much more useful service. And its YouTube compatibility — which seems to be the first of a number of new multimedia search features in the works — PicLens is starting to live up to its promise.
PicLens’ 3D YouTube search can be accessed direct from the video site, as well as via the PicLens button in your browser toolbar. Here’s a video demo:
The plug-in’s latest release includes other new features like Firefox 3.0 support, an improved user interface that lets you zoom in much further than before and optimized media RSS support. Great job, Cooliris!
