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  • Guest Bloggers Wanted
  • How to Improve YouTube Video Quality
  • YouTube Updates - Contextual Help and Character Counter
  • The Vlog Era Has Arrived
  • YouTube Will Add Live Video in 2008
  • Quarterlife’s Creators Says the Show isn’t Big Enough for TV
  • Pakistan Breaks YouTube
  • Google Begins Pushing Adsense for Video Again
  • How To Vlogs Gaining in Popularity
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  • China Simultaneously Cracks Down and Lightens Up on Video Sharing Sites
  • Political Vlogs Go European
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  • Tips for Shooting Video in the Snow
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YouTube has come out recently with a slew of improvements. You can see some in the video above.

By the way, it’s good to see that they have included screencasts in the video to illustrate things (as, ahem, someone suggested).

The improvements come in the following areas:

• NEW VIDEOS TAB
• MOST ACTIVE & PREVIOUSLY POPULAR
• CHANNEL RESULTS IN SEARCH
• MUSIC SUBCATEGORIES
• RSS LINKS ON VIDEO BROWSE PAGES
• PROFILE PICTURE
• SUBSCRIPTIONS UPDATE
• COMMENTS VOTING OPTIONAL

You can check out a text update of what they’ve done on the YouTube blog.

According to a new projection report by eMarketer, video advertising will account for 13.1 % of all money spent on internet advertising by 2011. It currently represents 8.2 %.

What the report doesn’t clearly define is the meaning of “rich media/video” advertising. As we have seen this past year, overlay ads have emerged as a strong player in the monetization of video. While many of the overlay ads themselves are not “video,” do they count as “rich media?” Surely some of the more sophisitacated ones would — those that are essentially little videos or are animated in some way.

But it takes some doing to produce those more sophisticated ads. No doubt that in the future the majority of advertising that will get embedded into or slapped onto user-generated videos will be little more than text links. Does a simple text link made with flash count as “rich media” in this report?

In any case, for those who make videos, the important element is not what the ads themselves are made of, but rather, what type of content people are interacting with when they become exposed to the ads. Is it video? Or is it something else, such as text or audio?

In other words, what’s drawing the viewers in the first place? Unfortunately, that question is beyond the scope of this report.

LINKS:

See the eMarketer report here.

YouTube recently announced that they were opening their advertising “Partner Program” up to the general public. The program is currently open to those from the U.S. and Canada with international implementation coming “soon.”

YouTube says the following about what a “partner” is:

These partners decide which of their videos they would like to generate revenue on YouTube, and in turn, they receive a portion of the revenue generated from ads that run next to those videos.

I notice that they say “from ads that run next to those videos.” I assume this means that the ads that actually show up on top of the videos are not included.

According to YouTube, to become a partner, you should meet the following criteria:

• You create original videos suitable for online streaming.
• You own the copyrights and distribution rights for all audio and video content that you upload — no exceptions.
• You regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of YouTube users.
• You live in the United States or Canada.

LINKS:

YouTube Partner Program Sign Up Page

YouTube Terms of Use Page

DailyMotion unveiled a new video player recently. You can see it in action above.

Metacafe Message Center - video powered by Metacafe

MetaCafe has recently added the ability to send and receive messages, including videos. There are some other updates as well. Check out the video above, or check out the MetaCafe blog.

There is an interesting article over at Adweek about how universities are leveraging YouTube by putting PR videos, classes, and even entire semesters of classes online at the video sharing site.

The article concentrates mostly on the efforts of UC Berkeley, which has set up its own channel. Under the current agreement, YouTube has agreed not to put ads on the Berkeley channel. Instead, they have traded the space for the extra cachet they hope to gain.

While there is no “outside advertising” on the channel, and there is indeed a lot classroom material, the Berkeley channel is obvious meant to be one giant advertisement for Berkeley itself.

In the article, Ben Hubbard, co-manager of Berkeley’s Webcast program, explains: “You can put together a one-minute spot that markets the university in a certain way, but there is nothing like showing the real thing.”

And so, is it working?

The article states:

Within three weeks of launching the YouTube partnership last month, Berkeley had 1.3 million views on the three channels it runs on its page. “When you really boil it down, the size of the YouTube audience is mind-blowing and it shows how hungry people are for this type of content,” he (Hubbard) says.

In somewhat related news, YouTube has just announced the addition of a few new video categories:

- Education
- Nonprofits & Activism
- Science & Technology

The new categories, however, won’t be available via the video tabs until they are more fully populated.

Just as the online series Quarterlife (see previous post) finally debuted, there have been scores of rumors that it will run away from its online home to NBC and regular TV.

The online series about 20-somethings and their 20-something angst has been of interest for a few different reasons. One of the biggest is the Hollywood names behind it: Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Relativity).

Quarterlife is said to be the most expensive online series produced to date. Its main character, Dylan, is a vlogger that vlogs about her friends. She tells too much, however, and as expected, it creates problems.

From the very beginning, there has always been a strange feel to the comments from the show’s producers. At first they were saying that most online series were, basically, crap. They, as the pros they are, would make something better.

OK. There is probably little to argue about there.

They also always never failed to mention that the deal they made with MySpaceTV was a necessary evil. There was the very distinct impression that because MySpace had the viewers and they had none, they were essentially forced into making nice, but really, well, really, it was kind of disgusting.

As the show debuted recently, however, it became clear that while the quality may be better than other online series’, Quarterlife is little more than a TV show on the web. … Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they say.

And so putting it all together, you have to wonder why Quarterlife wants to be on the web to begin with.

The most likely answer to that question is: They don’t want to be on the web to begin with. They want to be on TV. And that’s why it’s being reported that they are in talks with NBC.

As reported by the LA Times, the producers recently screened some of the first episodes at the University of Southern California film school.

In response to a question about the series looking like little more than TV on the web, Herskovitz answered, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

And then there was this interesting section in the Times article that nicely encaptulates the old dogs in a new doggie park:

Whether Herskovitz “gets it” about the Internet is hard to say. I asked him what freedoms and limitations he’d noticed working as a filmmaker in this new medium. “It’s not clear to me that it’s a new medium,” he said. “The Internet is a delivery system — it can have anything on it.”

But, but, being “a delivery system that can have anything on it” is precisely what makes the Internet a new medium.

As mentioned in a previous post, the same producers had a very short-lived TV show called 1/4life. That show was cancelled. With no where to turn, it looks like they turned to the web. Reluctantly.

Perhaps NBC is where this show belongs after all.

LINKS:

MySpaceTV with Quarterlife Series (episodes appear a day before the series on the Quarterlife site)

Quarterlife.com

The LA Times article about the show

In case you haven’t heard, YouTube Canada has launched.

Well, not much to say other than it exists. I suppose it will be more Canadian-centric, which can be nice for Canadians. But I imagine many will also be constantly toggling over to the regular YouTube to make sure they haven’t missed anything they might otherwise want to see.

It’s not exactly like we’re talking about a local version in a completely different language , eh?

LINKS:

YouTube Canada

YouTube has just announced a new tool that allows you to upload mulitiple videos all at once. In addition, they have upped the file size limit to 1GB. Previously files had been compressed to a size of 100MB (that’s 1/10 the size of current 1GB limit). The length of each video is capped at 10 minutes.

The new uploader tool is currently only available for Windows users, but a Mac version is on its way.

You will need to first intall the uploader onto your computer. You can do that at the installation page.

Once installed, you can upload multiple videos on the multi-video upload page.

If you have large files, it may take as much as 30 minutes before they are processed and viewable.

YouTube recently announced what they’re calling a Community Council. Essentially, it’s a group of five volunteers from the YouTube commnunity who will be providing feedback about the site and its features over the next six months. When the six months is up, another group rotates in.

What makes this even more interesting for the average user is you can take your own ideas to the members of the group, and they will get your feedback to YouTube.

As YouTube says:

You can approach any of our councilors with your thoughts, gripes — anything at all — over the next six months, and they will fast-track your feedback to us.

A few questions spring to mind right away:

1. Do these people know what they’re getting themselves into?
2. They are tagged “volunteers.” Are they “paid volunteers?” (I hope so. See Question 1.)
3. Does YouTube really need “volunteers” for this? It’s nice that they want feedback from users, but don’t they have the money for people who can do nothing but communicate with their huge user base and “fast-track” that feedback to where it needs to go?
4. Do these people REALLY know what they’re getting themselves into?

In any case, the council members are below. They anxiously await your bitching, whining, moaning, and complaining.

bgirl5
bradofarrell
sarrycrey
tlg847
visiblemode

A video of the volunteers at YouTube headquarters:

It looks like Oprah is doing YouTube. And vice versa.

Oprah’s show today (November 6) is dedicated to everything YouTube. Being Oprah, of course she gets all the biggest names, including the founders of the site, P. Diddy (who found his personal assistant on the site), that “dance guy” (who happens to have the most watched video ever on the site), and Tyson, the skateboarding dog.

Where would YouTube be without skateboarding dogs? (And why does everyone always have to say something like that?)

In addition, it looks like Oprah is now getting into the vlogging game. She has her own channel on YouTube where she will be posting video blogs that she’s made herself. Something tells me those duties will proabably get pawned off to a production assistant in short order, but, well, for a while anyway it looks as if it’ll be Oprah behind the camera.

LINKS:

The Oprah channel on YouTube

It looks like electronics retailer Best Buy is jumping into the video hosting game with the help of the UK-based firm Mydeo.

While it would seem the last thing the world needs is yet another video sharing site, Best Buy is looking to go after the market that wants to control who sees their videos. They plan to sell subscriptions to the service which starts at $6.97 a month. That price is for 100 minutes of video (with a maximum length of 30 minutes per video).

Best Buy already has partnerships with other companies such as Kodak (for photo sharing), Sirius and XM Radio, DirectTV and others. As the largest U.S. electronics retailer, they can pull people into their services with special offers that come with the equipment their customers buy.

Best Buy sells approximately one-third of all the video cameras purchased each year in the U.S. Many of the buyers of these cameras are not the YouTube crowd, of course, and the last thing in the world they want is millions of people seeing their personal videos. This service may be just the ticket for them.

LINKS:

Best Buy’s Videosharing Site (current resolves to Mydeo - don’t know if this will continue or not)

Best Buy’s Homepage

Mydeo Homepage

It looks like YouTube has already reversed its decision to splatter a garish red all over their pages after negative feedback from users.

No sooner had we posted about the changes than YouTube decided the ugly red in their video page redesign was a bad decision. You can see the new design above - which, frankly, leaves much to be desired as well.

Gray? Just gray? That YouTube sure is a fun place. It almost makes me pine for those lovely few hours hideous red.

Maybe they’ll have the guts to reverse themselves once again.

Below is a look at the new YouTube design coming soon. They have cleaned the left-side navigation from the page and upped the red factor. The page navigation in the new design happens via drop-down menus at the top. The red looks a little garish, in my opinion, but time will probably dull that effect.

Below is a look at the present (and soon to be old) design. Notice the more cluttered look with the left-side navigation.

The famous “Don’t Tase Me, Bro” video clip of University of Florida student Andrew Myer at a John Kerry speech is maybe not exactly what it seems. Or, at least, the video doesn’t tell the whole story. Maybe not even half of it.

Positively shocking, isn’t it?

Writing in the Chistian Science Monitor today, Dennis Jett, Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida, sheds new light on the whole incident in a piece that is aimed at criticizing the media’s handling of the story.

What the video doesn’t show, and what went largely unreported in the first days after the video hit the web, is the fact that Myer had caused a disturbance earlier in the day on the campus (with promises of more to come that night at the Kerry speech). Even more important, however, is the fact that Myer had already disrupted the Kerry speech even before the beginning of the now famous video clip.

Jett writes in the Christian Science Monitor:

What was not on the YouTube videos was the fact that the student disrupted the speech twice. After Kerry had responded to numerous questions, I announced that one final one would be taken from the microphone on my right. The student then grabbed the microphone on the left and loudly demanded that he be allowed to ask a question. When a female police officer intervened and tried to escort him out, he broke away and continued shouting. At that point, Kerry said he would take the student’s question, but would respond first to the questioner who was supposed to have been last. As he finished answering that question the famous videos began.

As I mentioned long ago, video adds a natural credibility to a “report.” If you are seeing something with your own eyes, it makes it hard to question its veracity. Because of this, the potential for distortion actually becomes greater.

And so as more and more vloggers take up the role of “citizen journalist,” we are likely to see more and more distortion. Some of this distortion will be intentional; some will be unintentional.

Jett rightly criticizes the mainstream media for not getting out all the facts. Most simply jumped on a vlogger’s video from YouTube and ran with it “as is.”

The mainstream media could take this incident as a lesson for how to handle “news” in this video blogging era, but something tells me that most probably won’t. At least not for a while.

While that is most certainly a criticism of “professional journalism” today, it has to be said that we, the consumers of the news, are also culpable. Our insistence on having everything now! now! now! is what leads us to take the first version of a story as the only version. It seems we simply don’t have the patience to wait out the truth.

If we get our news from YouTube or other such sites with “user generated content,” we shouldn’t be surprised when we learn we didn’t actually get the whole story. Sadly, some of us won’t ever learn we never got the whole story. Even sadder, some of us won’t even care.

LINKS:

Jett’s Piece at the Christian Science Monitor

Official University of Florida Report on the Incident

It seems progress has been made for the new online series title Quarterlife by Hollywood’s Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Relativity). It now has a debut date - November 11 on MySpace and November 12 on Quarterlife.com.

The series details what happens when a 20-something video blogger starts vlogging about her friends.

There is a preview of the show currently available on the Quarterlife.com website.

There is also an interesting article over at News.com about working online and some of the creators’ thoughts about the series and the “deals with the devil” that need to be made in order to make something large like this fly (read: deal with MySpace).

It seems that the Quarterlife website will not only serve as a host for the show, but will also attempt to be a social networking site.

While there’s lots of talk around about advertising and vlogs, many people still wonder — Can you really make money with your video blogs?

Well, yes.

As you can see from the graphic above, Metacafe likes to promote the fact that people are, indeed, making dough from their videos. Some are making quite a lot.

Metacafe is very smart in the way they promote this fact. Not only do they show the all time top earners, you can also see the top earners for the week and even how much an individual video has made.

Clicking around Metacafe, in fact, you have dollar signs popping up everywhere.

While this might come off as crass to some, it seems it is something that would definitely attract the attention of vloggers who are serious about their video blogging. And these are exactly the types of people you want posting videos on your site, of course.

The vlogs of the top earner on the list above, Kipkay, are mostly in the Technology & Science / How To vein.

An example of one of his videos is below. When embedding, you have the option of showing how much money the video has made so far, and so I have included that.

Chill A Coke In 2 Minutes! - A funny movie is a click away

LINKS:

You can check out Kipkay’s channel on Metacafe here.

Revver has recently released an interesting new Wordpress video plugin for vloggers who want to run their video blogs on their own websites.

Once installed and set up, a vlogger can essentially run all their uploading and manage everything from tracking to advertising from the backend of their own blog. In addition to nice features such as the advertising platform, visitors can even post video responses directly to the vlogger’s blog. Everything is actually stored on Revver’s servers, of course.

Revver describes it as “your own interactive video portal.”

There is a beta version of the plugin available for download on the Revver site, and word is that a newer, improved version with more cutomization features is due out shortly.

You can learn more and download the plugin at the following Revver page.

Perhaps you’ve heard of justin.tv - the site for live vlogging started by a guy, Justin, who decided to vlog his whole life to the world as it happened.

It became very popular, and then others started to get in on the act. They call their live vlogs “lifecasts.”

Thanks to TechCrunch, one of these sweet little lifecasters is gaining some attention for being, well, not so sweet. As a polite movie cinema manager informs our hero that he won’t be able to video the movie he’s about to go see, he becomes patronizing and nasty, rounding it all off with a nice “fucking bitch.”

Project much?

Advice to live vloggers: if you tend to be a sociopathic a-hole, you might want to rethink vlogging that live to the world.

LINKS:

The TechCrunch Story

Our Hero’s Blog

Justin.tv

Above you can see an example of YouTube’s new video bar application (hopefully — if it’s loading, that is). Instead of simply embedding single videos on your vlog / blog / website, you can choose to display a sample of various videos from a YouTube channel.

In addition to simply showing random videos from a channel, you can also choose to show Most Viewed Videos, Top Rated Videos, Recently Featured Videos, or video from a search query.

In order set up your YouTube video bar, you need to go to the following Google setup page.

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