I started playing with YouTube back in 2005 and didn’t really get it. I posted a couple of videos, but I wasn’t a consumer (i.e. I didn’t watch other people’s videos unless someone blogged about one). Fast forward to this year and add the Apple TV to the mix. I bought Apple TVs for the office and the house and found myself showing off the Apple TV by playing videos from YouTube.
Soon we started turning on YouTube (via Apple TV) any time we had a few people over. We would each pick a couple of ‘funny’ videos to play and let the system rip. It wasn’t like watching traditional TV, something we would never consider doing with guests, instead it was a different experience. The clips are short. The content is kitsch. The experience in a word is casual. It didn’t hamper our conversation, it enriched the content. YouTube + AppleTV = Great for Small Parties.
Now with my iPhone I find myself doing the same thing. People want to see how it works and after I show them the visual voice mail I show off YouTube. People are amazed. YouTube finally makes sense for me. Will I watch hours of YouTube? Never. Will I watch 2-3 three minute clips per week? Definitely.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
If you were to ask the majority of the coffee drinking public whether they are willing to spend over $2500 a year on coffee, you would likely get a confused look. But the truth is, those couple of dollars here and there at Starbucks/etc. add up to big bucks over a year period - - JUST like your 2-3 minutes! You probably are already watching hours of Youtube, you just have invented the tool that tells you as much yet.