A
year-long study from the Pew Research Center sheds some light on the way Americans are using social media differently than legacy media.
First off, nearly half depend on those around them for some of their news, an indication that social media has gained enormous clout but also an indication that friends play a powerful role in broad news consumption.
And any suggestion that social media somehow deliver the same note is challenged in the study. Pew reported that social media tend to highlight very different stories --- not only different from legacy media, but different from each other.
On blogs, the stories are emotive. On Twitter, technology rules. YouTube is serendipitous.
Legacy media still aren't necessarily picking up on the viral hits, either. Pew found only one instance, the so-named climategate scandal, that seemed to prosper in social media then migrate to the mainstream.
Having said that, blogs depend heavily on mainstream media for their source material, the study found.
There are many times you want to share a video on YouTube but not truly
share a video on YouTube. Now the service
has introduced an option to post "unlisted" video.
By "unlisted" it means available only to those who know a dedicated URL, meaning no public display, no channel availability, and no search engine results. It also means access to anyone you choose, not just someone with a YouTube account.
While
Mashable speculates this option will be very valuable for education purposes and for non-profits, it's hard to believe it wouldn't also be useful for services looking to distribute video selectively to certain audiences as a premium or exclusive offering.
The
latest monthly figures for video views in the United States suggest Google continues to be the dominant provider.
The data from comScore Inc. says Americans watched 31.2 billion videos online in the month of March, with Google sites like YouTube garnering 42 per cent of the total, or 13 billion. YouTube reached three of four viewers and Google had 136 million unique visitors to video in the month.
Hulu was a distant second at 1.1 billion views.
The data indicates some 180 million Americans (or 85 per cent of the Internet audience) viewed an average of 173 videos in March.
The boom continues for online video in the United States. The audience measurement firm
comScore says 178 million Americans watched video online in December.
Some 33.2 billion videos were seen in the month. YouTube is the largest video outfit on the Web, with more than 13 billion viewed, but it was the first month in which Hulu served up more than one billion views.
The math is astounding: The 178 million watched an average of 187 videos in the month.
YouTube Direct is the dominant Google-owned video service's attempt to bridge the gap between news organizations and creators. It permits editors to obtain and assign video from so-called citizen journalists.
A handful of large organizations
are testing the service, which essentially serves as a go-between.
It permits a call-out to videographers and links them to newsrooms.
Consider it Version 3.0 of YouTube: The monetized version.
The video service said Thursday it had reached deals with Hollywood movie and television studios to put full-length episodes and films on the site. At the same time, Google said as YouTube's owner that it is pondering a premium content service that would charge users.
The Hollywood deal is significant because YouTube remains nearly 10 times larger than its nearest competitor, with 90 million users a month. But such services as Hulu, Joost and TV.com have preceded YouTube into the television episode space, so YouTube's foray may take time to gain a foothold.
It is not clear how Google will introduce a premium service. In an interview with the New York Times, Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested it wouldn't be through charging for programs from the new suppliers, which include Sony, Lions Gate and MGM.
Business Week adds to the list of media predictions with columnist Ron Grover's ideas for the year.
Among them:
1. Yahoo won't be bought.
2. Hulu will be the online video winner, not YouTube.
3. Katie Couric will stay safe.
We extend our video content out to YouTube and it occasionally moves the needle for us in traffic and particularly in visibility and viral impact.
Today's 10,000 Words post is a great primer for papers looking to establish themselves in that space.It advocates customizing, keeping tags clear, permitting others to submit video, and filling the keyword area for search optimization. A good package.
When Eric Schmidt talks, everyone listens. And when the Google CEO acknowleges the company's $1.65-billion takeover of YouTube has yet to produce a revenue model, everyone should be paying attention.
No matter that YouTube is the brand leader and has all the familiarity of Facebook and MySpace, the world's largest Internet company hasn't found a way to insinuate profit into the picture.
In catching up to his lengthy CNBC interview of this week, it was apparent there are several products to come in the advertising realm but admit the commerce had not caught up to the creativity of YouTube.
If you're looking for a new understanding of media consumption and distribution, here's a quick primer. Loic Le Meur's video blog outlines his "social map" and the critical connections he makes to his friends and acquaintances to push content and pull content. If the news wants me, it will find me, he suggests. It's a fascinating YouTube addition and worth studying --- and, perhaps, implementing.
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