Login
Home

all posts tagged “youtube”

5 Trends Behind the Growing Shift to Video Explanations

Posted by: leelefever on January 23, 2012- 11:24am

Categories: Explanation, history, media, youtube

It’s easy to look back at Internet history and spot the points of major change. A famous example is the Web 2.0 era which spawned products like Twitter, Facebook and other lasting features of the Web. Some would say we're in the cloud era now, with nearly everything we do on computers being moved to off-site servers. 

Within these big, tectonic shifts are smaller shifts that also make a difference.  YouTube was a big shift that kicked off online video in 2005 and in the years since, we’ve seen the growth of viral videos and myriad artistic expressions in video form. How did we survive without the Honey Badger?
 
But there is one shift, near and dear to my heart, that we’re just starting to see.  The age of the video explanation is here.  Let me explain.
 
Online video, in many ways, has reflected mainstream television.  These productions are usually advertising supported and generally classified by documentary, narrative, drama, comedy, advertising, art, etc. All valuable and productive, but reflecting mainstream history.  
 
With YouTube came the potential for video to be more democratized, more experimental. Suddenly there became room for new uses of video, new audiences, new genres. In 2006, anyone with a video camera and an Internet connection could make videos and share them on a worldwide scale for free. Sachi and I fit that model and Common Craft started to experiment. 
 
In 2007 we saw an opportunity to make videos that explained technology.  These videos were not  instructional or tactical how-to videos.  They answered a different kind of question.  It was not “how do I do this?” but “why should I care?”  We called them explanations and Common Craft’s tagline became “Our Product is Explanation”.
 
To my knowledge this was the first time a set of online videos had been described as explanations, with RSS in Plain English (below) being the original article. 

This video was a viral hit and helped make Common Craft famous on the Web. It worked for a simple reason - it made people care about and see value in RSS. Since then we’ve made videos that have done the same for products like Twitter, Dropbox, Google Docs and now have a whole library of video explanations for use in classrooms and on the Web.  In all, our video explanations have been viewed well over 35 million times. 
 
As these videos gained traction, an increasing number of video producers have joined the fray and started describing what they do as "video explanations" or "explainer videos", which are usually computer animations. At the same time, demand for our services grew and we created the Common Craft Explainer Network in 2008 to help these producers flourish.  Since 2010, we’ve seen more and more producers describe their work as video explanations and adopt the idea that explanation represents a specific skill and type of video, a new genre that’s useful.
 
Now, our success and a handful of producers don’t make a shift.  But a few trends are at work that set this up to be a big deal in the future.  
 
1.  Growing complexity, growing anxiety.  The world is moving faster than ever and people are feeling anxious because they can’t keep up.  They need quick, effective ways to feel confident about ideas and products that matter to them.  Video explanations fulfill this need and there is no shortage of subjects that need better explanations.  
 
2. Growing Use of Video.  Yesterday Reuters reported that YouTube is now serving "4 billion online videos every day, a twenty five percent increase in the past eight months"
 
3.  Growing Demand. eMarketer recently released a report suggesting spending on online video will rise 43% in 2012. That’s one year. Spending begets supply.  I see part of the money in video moving from whiz-bang marketing videos to videos that focus on utility and education, what we call explanations. 
 
4.  Growing Supply. As stated above, more and more video producers around the world are starting to specialize in explanation. These producers are seeing growth potential because organizations are tired of the same old marketing formula and demanding videos that are simpler and focused on explaining more than selling.
 
5.  Growing Mindshare.  Until recently, people have not heard the term "video explanation:. But that is changing quickly. We talk to organizations every day that want a video that explains their product.  Indeed, I imagine a world where an increasing number of compaines see video explanations as a standard way for a brand to communicate. 
 
Video explanations are not going to be the next Web 2.0.  However, a number of factors are coming together that will make video explanations a trend to watch in 2012 and beyond. We expect to see more video producers developing video explanation skills for custom/promotional projects as well as video explanations designed to educate and inform. 
 
We could be at the beginning of a wave that will change how we think about the role of video in helping people feel more confident and informed in the face of a rapidly changing landscape.  Perhaps soon we’ll see that the genres of video have a new and productive member.  Drama, comedy, documentary, advertising and explanation.
 
For a complete list of Common Craft Video Explanations, check out our video library. 

A Problem with Embedded Videos

Posted by: leelefever on March 16, 2008- 5:00pm

Categories: lesson, videohosts, youtube

Here's a scenario:

  • You create a video and upload it to a host like You Tube.
  • People like it and want to share it on their blog.
  • They grab the embed code and paste it into their blog.
  • Sweet - your video is on multiple blogs!
  • Then, you realize that the video has an error you need to correct.
  • To do this, you need to delete the current video and upload a new one.
  • Ack! When you delete a video, the embedded players stop working
  • The bloggers now have a broken links and don't know why.

So, you're stuck - either you leave up bad content, or break the links to your blogger friends.

I bring this up for two reasons:

1.  Be aware. A video is different than a blog post.  It's not a consistent page that's editable. A corrected video is an entirely new piece of content with a new URL, comments, etc.  Because most hosts don't allow replacement videos, you may find that embedded players lock you in to content you want to change.

2.  This is fixable by the hosts.  As usual, Vimeo is ahead of the curve and allows video replacements.  With Vimeo, you can upload a replacement video that will begin playing in an existing embedded player with the same comments, etc. Blip.tv and You Tube and most others do not allow replacements, as far as I know. [Update:  Mike Hudack sez Blip does allow replacements through the "edit" page.]

It should also be noted that the replacement option is something that could be abused by unethical producers, so this may explain why it has not been adopted so far.

TeacherTube: An Educator's Workaround for Online Video

Posted by: leelefever on December 6, 2007- 4:00pm

Categories: education, interview, socialmedia, video, videohosts, youtube

It's easy to assume that YouTube and similar hosts are open to everyone but it's not the case for a lot of professionals.  We hear from people almost every day that need a way to access our videos off the web because their organizatio/school restricts access to websites like YouTube.

We recently became aware of TeacherTube, which is a video sharing site that has become a workaround for educators who can't access YouTube videos on the web. Many schools may block YouTube, but allow access to TeacherTube because it's an educational resource.

The site is a clone of YouTube with more advertising.  For it to work in the educational world, there seems to be two big issues (besides quality content):

1. Convincing schools to unblock TeacherTube 

2. Making sure that TeacherTube remains a safe resource. 

I asked Adam Smith, the co-founder, about how schools work to make sure Teacher Tube is unblocked.

To answer your question, we absolutely will work and continue to work with schools to help unblock TeacherTube, however the TeacherTube Community Members usually beat us to it. If any members campuses are blocking TeacherTube, they can email me direct at adam@teachertube.com and I can provide server information and/or generate a letter to the school’s technology director.  

I also asked about how TeacherTube remains safe for the educational setting.
When we started the design phase of the website, site monitoring was top priority. That is why we keep the quote at the top "Keep it SAFE! Flag all Inappropriate Videos." Once our member number grew over 20,000+ in the first three months, we new we had to add [flag as] inappropriate features and ask the TeacherTube Community for help. On all videos we added inappropriate video and comment flagging capabilities. So we not only have our staff constantly look over inappropriate content, we now have over 45,000+ members watching and flagging inappropriate content.

I've become a fan of TeacherTube because many of our fans depend on it to help educate others.  It's nice to see that they've been able to scale and stay relevant by working with a dedicated community of users.

Find Common Craft videos on TeacherTube here.  

Our RSS Video - Hijacked on YouTube

Posted by: leelefever on July 26, 2007- 5:00pm

Categories: rss, spam, video, youtube

Check this out... someone uploaded a bullshit version of our RSS in Plain English video to YouTube with a crappy ad on it.

I would love it if you could help me rectify this situation by reporting it to YouTube as inappropriate and/or leaving a comment on the video about it being a fake.

Update: After a handful of you good people left comments, the user has now removed the offending video. I think this was, in part, a cross-cultural misunderstanding - he is Malaysian. His comment to me showed that he saw no problem with the ad - he thought I was upset that he was getting credit for my work. I was impressed that he responded at all.

Updated: This is another one that isn't as bad, but still a pain. This person uploaded one half of the Wiki in Plain English video. Since the video is branded as Common Craft, these incomplete versions make a bad impression.

I really, really hope that I'm not going to have to fight this fight every day in the future.

Back to News Listing

Recent Post Topics

New Video

Week in Love

Explanation

Subscribe with RSS