Bradley Nesbitt, TCA instructor and FiOS1 VJ.. also very social
So now Facebook is going to video.
And in only one month they have rocketed to the number three spot for video streaming and number two slot for unique video visits.
And that is only in one month.
It’s a pretty good bet that Video Social Groups are going to be the next big wave in the online world.
For the past two years and some, we have been training a very tight-knit group of video makers through the Travel Channel Academy. Â There are now several thousand graduates of the course, all video equipped and all bonded to the Channel through the bootcamps.
While they are with us, they become a very tight group, but even after they leave, a percentage of them stay in touch with one another. Â They have meet ups. They communicate online. And they have two shared interests that intersect quite nicely: video and travel.
In fact, they care so much about both of these things that they paid $2000+ for the privilege of membership.
They do, from time to time, feed the Channel and its need for video, and for this they get paid. But I think that what we have created here far transcends the notion of working for the Channel. Â We have created a video equipped online affinity group.
This is a self-selected group that wants to tell stories about their travel experiences through video. Â And while some of that may find its way to the Channel, the bigger play here is no doubt simply having them tell their stories to each other.
That, after all, is what Facebook is all about.
Tell your own story, post your own photos and now post your own videos.
And with 60 million unique viewers last month alone, the appetite for this kind of shared online video world seems quite real. Â And only just starting.
The networks are used to an architecture where they commissioned the ‘shows’, put them on at 8PM or 9PM and waited for the viewers to come to them.
Perhaps the bigger play here is where the viewers create what is interesting to them and come to each other.
If the Networks were smart, they would position themselves smack dab in the center of this thing.
I mean, suppose we had told the SF Chronicle about this guy, Craig Newmark, who was starting a website just down the street for them, and that they should position themselves in the center of that trend. Would that have been good advice to a newspaper? I think so.
Is this good advice to a TV network?
I think so.
6 Comments
David Dyar November 21, 2009
I feel like the Facebook video upsurge may not be what it appears. I assume that most of these are just home videos of Johnny’s birthday party, Sally’s school play, etc. and are seen only by people on the Facebook friend’s list of the person who uploaded the videos. I assume the uploaders probably don’t want the general public to see them.
But hundreds of thousands of birthday party videos seen by say 20 people each can add up to 60 million streams easily.
Most of the Youtube videos, on the other hand, are targeting wide ananomou audiences and most uploaders want as many people to see them as possible. Facebook has reached out to businesses and interest groups to create Facebook sites for what they call “fan” sites, but that doesn’t seem to be as attractive as the personal pages people create to make contact with aquaintances.
I’m sure all this is going to lead somewhere away from broadcasting, but who knows how its going to sort out.
I have been recently rivited by the Netflix model Michael has talked about. Netflix is teaming up with DVD manufacturers and hi-end TV set makers to stream movies directly to TVs through a person’s home wifi system. Just plug an ethernet cable into your TV and watch practically anything on demand, including Youtube, Facebook videos. No computer. No web sites.
The problem is the manufacters are controlling what goes on these systems with the idea of making money and offering “subscriptions”. It’s not an open hardware structure. They have their own “channels” etc, that limit what you can see.
digger November 20, 2009
the San Francisco Chronicle bought Craigslist in 2002!
The consultant who supervised the closure of the newspaper in 2003 so that the board could concentrate on the classifieds was Mike “Follow the Money” Rosenblum.
…whoops – sorry alternate reality.
Back here on planet earth…
As a kid did you dream of fighting the Battle of Agincourt with a machine gun battalion?
steve November 20, 2009
10 comments on the previous post and i bet hardly anyone bothered to even look at the chart you were referring to….
instead the sniping continued.
but, like m.r. has said in the past, you’ll need to harness the power of the internet (its users) and let it pull you along rather than try to control the direction in which it heads.
well, i looked at that chart, and while the eyes are naturally drawn to the left column i would submit that the right column is possibly more important if you are focused fwd and not bkwds.
look at the wide gulch in uniques between those names who are trying to control the internet user vs. those who looking to hitch their wagon to them.
$ November 21, 2009
I’m too busy cashing a paycheck to look at a chart which has no bearing on the real world of business and journalism.
Those who have no jobs, or paychecks from said journalism job, have plenty of time to look at charts and make unfounded claims about something they’ve never been able to do themselves.
You and Cliff have a lot in common.
Sadly for you, that’s not a good thing when it comes time to pay bills.
steve November 21, 2009
typical.
you know not of who you speak, but you blather on anyway.
as my great grandpa used to say: if you encounter a friend who is digging himself into a hole and you want to help him out, then offer him a new shovel. because he’ll only stop by his own accord.
here’s a new graphite handled shovel, mr. burgundy. keep diggin’, buddy.
$ November 21, 2009
Burgandy?
I’m no local hack.
You?
Not even up to that level.
Just another internet blogger with no real job, experience, and no real paycheck either.
You’re a perfect candidate for a four day VJ class.
But you I’m thinking you can’t even afford that.