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.

Video Journalism and Activism

A blog post today over at left click blog analyzed what I think is one of the more exciting aspects of the changing face of video journalism. While television journalism was routed in an often cheesy and artificial form and print journalism has had various traditions governing its form for centuries, the form of video and digital journalism is still being developed and open for experimentation.

Left click blog took this fact to the next step and argued that because of this opportunity for experimentation, video journalism is a medium that is ripe for social activism. In fact, Dave Riley goes so far as to say that "formality collapses" with video journalism. I think that this is a perfect way to describe the current freedom and room for creativity found in the medium, and I would argue that that lack of a constrictive formality will be an overall good thing for journalism as a whole.

Charging For Online Video; Rather Loses

Today there were three interesting stories floating around the web that in some way involved the business of video journalism. First of all, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by Peter Kann discussing that newspaper’s early decision to start charging for their online content. Though “expert’s say it’s too late to charge” for many other major newspapers today, the Wall Street Journal was an early advocate for charging for online content.

I can see the attractiveness in the inherently faulty business model that Kann currently sees in effect for many newspapers across the country. The idea of charging for a lackluster print product, and giving a better, multimedia product away for free doesn’t seem to make sense. I, do, however, think there is a benefit of having a set collection of articles to read for a day. That’s probably just my OCD nature needing organization though. Also, is it ironic that this article about charging for online content can be read online for free? Anyone? More after the jump.