Social Video and Oprah

In an article written last Thursday on Tech Radar, I was surprised to see that in addition to Hulu one of the sites that is gaining the most ground is Facebook in terms of online video content. Youtube, which receives an amazing 1 billion views a day, could soon be losing some of that staggering statistic as social network sites continue to develop more ways to incorporate video content with their services. The trend reminded me of the trend predicted in class a few weeks ago of the future of Internet search content. There it was discussed that perhaps in a few years, people will be searching sites like facebook and myspace for restaurant recommendations from their friends etc. rather than random strangers on the internet. Perhaps video content is heading down a similar path.

Secondly, I was surprised to see online video being brought into a media business conversation where you normally wouldn’t see it. In a recent Reuters article discussing Oprah’s imminent departure from her daytime television throne, ABC’s Sweeney discussed Disney’s various moves to push into developing content for various platforms and target specific audiences with that content. I also find it interesting that she forced her Daughter to have a television in her room. If only I had a TV executive as a parent growing up.