| You may dismiss it as a website for | | | | toddler. |
| attention-deprived teenagers with an interest in | | | | It’s a viral thing |
| strange cats, but YouTube, and other video | | | | So what has made YouTube such a runaway |
| sharing services like it, have the potential to | | | | success? |
| change the way you communicate. | | | | For many, the answer is its viral nature – |
| As well as opening up a new and exciting channel | | | | people discover obscure videos they like, alert |
| for corporate communicators, these sites are | | | | their friends by email and these messages are |
| part of an online revolution that will place great | | | | then forwarded again and again, driving impressive |
| demands on organizations over the coming years | | | | viewing figures. It is this ‘virtual chatter’ |
| and will, for some, threaten their very existence. | | | | between contacts that keeps the internet buzzing. |
| Think I’m exaggerating? Read on… | | | | YouTube is part of a phenomenon that has |
| YouTube, the king of the video sharing websites, | | | | become known collectively as the social media or |
| is a phenomenon. Just look at the numbers - | | | | ‘Web2.0’. The buzzwords are used to |
| every day 100 million videos are viewed and | | | | describe the current generation of web-based |
| 65,000 new clips are added to the website. It | | | | services that emphasize online collaboration, |
| boasts 20million unique users every month and is | | | | user-generated content and file sharing. In |
| estimated to account for 60% of all videos | | | | contrast to the static, brochure-ware web of the |
| watched online. And before you dismiss it as a | | | | past, the new style ‘conversational web’ |
| site for American kids, note that more than a | | | | is being created and driven by ordinary people. As |
| third of the site’s users are over 35 and | | | | such, video sharing is an extension of the same |
| upwards of 3.5million of them are British. | | | | trend that has seen an explosion in the number of |
| Those statistics are reason enough for | | | | blogs (written word) and podcasts (spoken word) |
| communicators to sit up and pay attention. | | | | that are being produced. |
| Another reason is its enormous impact. The site | | | | The popularity of online video has been fuelled by |
| has been around for just few years and, during | | | | the rapid growth in broadband internet access |
| that time, has shown millions of people what to | | | | (about a third of UK households currently have |
| do with a packet of Mentos and a bottle of Diet | | | | broadband access, with that figure set to more |
| Coke, turned a lonely teenager into a global | | | | than double by the end of 2009) and the |
| celebrity, been used by unions to attack big | | | | availability of increasingly sophisticated mobile |
| business, embarrassed the Scottish First Minister | | | | devices (video-ready iPods and mobile phones are |
| and claimed the scalp of a US senator. Whilst | | | | now becoming commonplace). |
| much of its content may be pure titillation, some | | | | These developments show no signs of slowing |
| of it is very serious indeed. | | | | down and it won’t be long before web-based |
| In less than two years YouTube has gone from | | | | content begins to threaten the traditional |
| being a bright idea at a Silicon Valley dinner party, | | | | mainstream media (one of the reasons Rupert |
| to being named Time Magazine’s Invention of | | | | Murdoch recently forked out $580m for the social |
| the Year for 2006. And although the business has | | | | networking site MySpace). Make no mistakes |
| yet to make a profit, it has already made two | | | | – online video is here to stay and it will quickly |
| twenty something guys very rich indeed - in | | | | become a core communication channel for all |
| October YouTube was sold to Google for a | | | | sorts of organizations. |
| staggering $1.65bn. Not bad for a new media | | | | |