To me the most important implication of this whole online video revolution is that video clips can be effectively indexed and searched. This is one of the most exciting aspects of Beet.TV.
Many visitors first find Beet.TV clips through search — from Technorati, Google, Yahoo! and other search and indexing sites. Most new visitors come to view a specific post that is relevant to his or her search.
I guess you could say that video consumption is non-linear, people don’t tune into a "show" but watch what is relevant to them. At least, that’s the we way we see it.
I spoke with Technorati Chairman and CMO Peter Hirshberg in Palo Alto earlier this summer about the searchability of online video. He told me the company is putting a great deal of effort around this. It recently introduced a most popular video page. This page indexes the most blogged about videos on YouTube. Before too long, clips on other video sites will be tracked, I suspect.
The next step at Technorati in making video more searchable is technology called Microformats which is being implemented with a few content producers. Technorati has taken the lead in developing Microformats. More on Microformats. Stay tuned.
— Andy Plesser
The Economist Harshes on YouTube
The ever insightful Economist magazine has a tough story "The Trouble with YouTube" — says its founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen are "casting around for a business model." The venerable weekly reports industry rumors that YouTube is losing as much as $500,000 per month.
Facebook "Facelift" Gettting Mixed Reviews
Facebook implemented a major redesign this week and it’s getting some pretty tough reviews from college kids including my son Benjamin, a senior at Dartmouth. He finds it clunky and way too invasive. He’s not alone. The chatter in the blogosphere is fairly negative. Slashdot says it’s creating an "uproar" among its users. Why tinker with success? We wonder. See our interview with co founder Chris Hughes from earlier this summer.
Online Video, Searchable Video, Technorati, YouTube, Peter Hirshberg
