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.

John Moore speaks to the Social Media clubs about social media. Check out the video on YouTube:

If you run a social media service is it your job to prevent users from uploading content that is copyright?  We always assumed that it was.  Now what steps do we need to take to find copyright material?  We always assumed that we were required to use all reasonable methods to do so.  Periodically a copyright owner will contact us and request that a video or audio file be removed and of course we comply.  What if we decided that we were going to stop using ‘reasonable methods’ to remove copyright content, unless a copyright holder entered into an agreement with our company?  I suspect we would get sued.

Turns out that is exactly what Google is doing.  They wait for take down notices and then remove copyright material.  Google has filters that would prevent copyright material from appearing on YouTube and Google Video, but according the Mark Cuban and the WSJ: “Viacom spokesman Carl Folta also took issue with the idea that YouTube would only make filtering available to companies who make deals a la Warner Music.”

Sounds like having your cake and eating it to to me.   Do no evil?  Guess it is okay to ‘Not do no evil…’

Local students from SMU won second place in the Chipotle/YouTube “30 Seconds of Fame” contest.  Students, organized in 70 teams from more than 20 colleges were asked to create 30-second commercials for Chipotle to compete for a $10,000 prize.

The winning entry from the University of Nebraska was watched more than 8,000,000 times with the second place entry from SMU being watched more than 7,700,000 times.  Add those views with those of the 68 other entries and you get a number north of 30,000,000 views of Chipotle advertisements.  The total investment by Chipotle?  $30,000 ~ .001 cent per view.  What would Chipotle have spent to produce an ad much less get college students to watch it 30,000,000 times?
Social media programs like this have the added benefit of helping a brand build a tighter bond with its hardcore fans as well as the possibility of reaching new fans.  Thanks to Mike for pointing this one out.

Charlie O’Donnell pointed out that Sony had YouTube remove all Casino Royale trailers from their site.  I am with Charlie on this one when he says “huh?”

Okay, give YouTube a call if someone posts the actual movie to YouTube, but if someone posts the marketing trailer I would be excited.  Right?  Is there something I don’t understand?  I am sure some lawyer will be able to explain how they “had to” remove it, but I am sure I could figure out how to allow the trailers to remain.
Charlie sums up his feelings better than I can:

If you’re in charge of movie trailers, no matter how big or small your movie is, and you don’t have them uploaded to YouTube, you’re an idiot.  That’s it.  You’re just an idiot.

YouTube can be a great marketing tool for your business (see uShip video from earlier today) or your television show.  Take time to consider how best to incorporate it into your overall social media strategy ~ don’t turn this one over to the legal department, send it over to the marketing department instead.

To help promote our Fancast service, Fox has been running short promotions on its various channels.  Jeremy Pepper IM’d me this afternoon after he saw our promo on Fox News.  To see the promo visit Fancast on YouTube.

After our initial launch for Nip/Tuck, users told us that our registration system was annoying.  We took their comments to heart and relaunched last night allowing users to simply request a call without creating an account.  Now all you need to get on the show is a phone number, email address and a name - no password or registration necessary.  Users now get “instant gratification” and that is a good thing.

Fancast Before UI Simplification.

Fancast After UI Modifcations.

YouTube announced that Warner Music Group will distribute and license its copyrighted songs and other materials through the companies system. The deal is fairly simple, YouTube will share ad revenue with Warner. The neat part for YouTube’s users is that Warner is going to extend the license to the users for use Warner’s songs in their homemade videos. Very smart!

This deal is very big. Warner, including labels such as Atlantic, Asylum, Elektra and Rhino, is the third largest recording company with revenues greater than $3.5 billion. It is big for Warner, big for YouTube and most of all big for all those kids making videos lacking background music…

The Guardian is reporting that, according to Alexa, YouTube generates 3.9% of global internet traffic compared to MySpace’s 3.4%. Nielsen has indicated traffic has grown 297% in the last six months. During that same period MySpace’s growth has slowed to 9%.

I first used YouTube one year ago when I uploaded my first video on August 9th. I wrote about the service in a post titled “Social video sharing service - YouTube!” I created several videos just to try out the service including very boring moments like “Driving from Wendy’s to Home!“, or classics like “Vegas Forum Trip“, and of course Ethan’s “Batman Birthday Party.” I even tried to use the forum to communicate with potential clients like Ikea with this classic, “Weblogs Work for IKEA!” I even documented the 2005 Web 2.0 conference in a very borning video titled, “Web 2.0 Conference.” The “Driving from Wendy’s” video even appeared on NPR shortly after I posted it. They used it as an example of the useless stuff on YouTube.