Tragically it seems to me that this group is now what it used to be when it comes to musing on such questions. No that these are easy questions to answer, Im not moaning at people, just wishing for a time past when there was tons of chatter on the potential of this or that to further all things vlog.
I imagine those who have tried to harness social networks in some way, will have mostly had somesucess but nothing too dramatic. Ive largely been disatisfied with the tools, sites & services to date, feeling that the potential for things like groups, has not been realised. And very frustrated that the wonderful diversity of sites on the net has also been a drawback, in that there is still not that much really clever and seamless linking of information & people between sites. I was quite pleased with some stuff facebook have done, and the number of users causes the myspace & youtube effect where success is so much more likely, as is lively feedback, debate etc. But facebook doesnt seem quite right either, theres still some important evolution required. So I am curious whether these google efforts to increase site interoperability could be a foundation for some great coming of age of many of the things we've seen over recent years that have so much potential, but are somehow not quite hitting the sweet spot for humanity. I wonder again how many sites are out there with comments, forums or other 'community' features, that have failed to attain a community, but would stand a chance of doing so if they could tap into existing pools of 'the right people' and yet still remain seperate. The best of the walled garden approach with the best of freedom and self-reliance. Already possible to a certain extent, not a new concept Im sure, but could be so much more given time & maturer tech. Subscription or sales model doesnt seem to have been very much tried in the vlogging world, probably due to theories about not being able to compete at all with all the free stuff thats out there. But in reality it can work, best to ask your existing customer base or community, find out what they are hungry for and whether theyd really pay. And as usual its not likely to maek you crazy money but could be a useful additional revenue stream for the small business or individual. I suppose there is a difference between someone with an existing business, harnessing vlogging to build that business in some way, and those trying to make a vlog, or vlog tech, into a business. Neither are progressing as rapidly as I probably expected 3 years ago, despite all the hype. I might stick 2007 down in my book as the year the hype left town, quite rapidly after the previous frenzy of youtube value hysteria, and time magazines declaration about 'you' being person of the year. Now social networking is back to being the darling, whislt old media has begrudginly arrived to bring TV to the net. Prediction: 2008 will see the collapse of some players involved in the content, content delivery business, as time runs out waiting for those overhyped megadollars to arrive. The gulf between where they are sitting, and where the increased net advertising dollars actually get spent, will be the death of them. Hopefully those who have a longer gameplan, more funding and less overheads, will strive forwards, and in some ways video on the internet will go from strength to strength, but its questionble how much longer those who mistook the longtail for a cash cow, will be able to maintain the dream. And I certainly hope that this doesnt happen much to the creators of all the video's we love. Thats where my true passion still lies so I dont know why I spend so much time talking about all these dodgy $ issues, all I really want is for video and humans to fit better and do more good in the world in fun and serious ways, and I dont want social networking to become just another thing with potential that fell short. It may be human nature that dooms us to these disappointing realities, and there is nothing technology can do, but even I cant give up that dream. Also wondering if Im going to get to find out what the internet and vlogging are like in a serious recession and time of unprecedented instability in the world. If that happens I expect it to be both very beutiful and very very ugly. Cheers Steve Elbows --- In [email protected], Ron Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I just spent the entire evening last night hooking up with likeminded > people on facebook - what a great app! > > I think this is where we've been faltering as far as promotion goes. > We need more push and I'm taking that on now. > > I'd love to hear more about leveraging the social networking > platforms. Can I add that to my 2 questions in my post? > > Cheers, > > Ron Watson > http://k9disc.blip.tv > http://k9disc.com > http://pawsitivevybe.com/vlog > http://pawsitivevybe.com > > > > On Nov 6, 2007, at 12:32 PM, Steve Watkins wrote: > > > To clarify my google point at the end, here is my half-baked > > thoughprocess on this one: > > > > One of the things that made vlogging emerge was RSS, which opened > > the doors not only > > fo rthe podcast-type viewwer subscription thing, but also for sites > > and services to work > > with eachother without rocketscience. > > > > So Im just a wondering if the same could be said for google's > > OpenSocial > > (http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/ ) > > > > I mean there are clearly positives about social networks, and > > although it has many other > > uses, it could also be used to enable video to be used much more > > intelligently by large > > numbers of people, and for content creators & social network > > members to be less reliant > > on one service, less inside the walled garden, and more where we > > need to be? > > > > A simple example would be that if you make videos about niche > > subject, they could be > > very tightly integrated into existing social networking groups of > > people who are interested > > in that subject. Your potential audience, already together and > > making a community, now > > being intimately connected with your stuff. > > > > Any thoughts on this or related stuff? > > > > Cheers > > > > Steve Elbows > > > > --- In [email protected], "Steve Watkins" <steve@> > > wrote: > > > > > If I look to any upcoming > > > technological developments to further things, I think there is > > probably more room for > > > video as part of social networking, and I will be fasinated to > > see if google's open thingy > > > project somewhat overcomes the 'walled garden' problem with > > social networking & > > other > > > net services, there could be some amazing possibilities. > > > > > > The right tools on a whole series of loosely connected sites that > > are tailored around the > > > social aspects of humans, combined with video, could perhaps > > succeed where vlogging > > > has failed to live up to dreams, or at least those dreams require > > more humans? > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > > Steve Elbows > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
