Social Networks & Video
This is the year for the Web 2.0 sites.
Take a look at the Social Networking Sites like MySpace, Friendsters, who are the main subscribers? The young generation!
They are creating a new wave, a powerful one.
User-generated content properties, such as Wikipedia, MySpace, and YouTube, have moved to the top of the pack, owing to their focus on community and personalization. Watch out for emerging companies such as Orkut, Facebook, and Hi5 in social networking and YouTube, Brightcove, Bolt, and Heavy.com in video.
Watch where the global younger generation goes and you have a huge business opportunity.
Next, I can’t say enough of video.
Online video is gaining momentum!!!!!!
Today, close to 60% of Internet traffic may be peer-to-peer file sharing of unmonetized video. Looking ahead, the ramp in tagging (for search), partnerships, monetization, and recent moves by the likes of ABC / CBS / FOX / NBA / Sony / Warner / Universal / Google / Yahoo! WILL drive industry growth.
YouTube became a household name in 2006, as people passed links to one amusing video clip after another to their friends and colleagues.
But although these videos will remain popular this year, consumers will also move beyond them in search of regular online episodes. The networks will post more television shows and special features on the Web. More people will also create and post their homemade videos but feature more sophisticated fare than simply goofy “America’s Funniest Home Videos”-style clips. They’ll be turning out semiprofessional, scripted series for the Web and attracting regular viewers just as traditional television shows do.
“You’ll see more people doing scripted serialized shows that you’re used to seeing on TV,” said Dina Kaplan, co-founder of Blip.tv, which hosts videos online. “At some point, creating TV shows on the Web will tip over to the mainstream.”
More people will watch videos on the go this year, especially as cell phone carriers such as Verizon link up with popular online video sites such as YouTube and Revver, and as Apple strikes deals with more Hollywood studios and networks to offer additional movie and television show downloads for the iPod.
Less than 3 percent of U.S. cell phone users subscribe to mobile television and video services on their phones, according to market research firm Telephia. That number will get higher as video-enabled handsets drop in price and more consumers pick them up. Cell phone users also will be able to capture and post short movies with their cell phones, as new software and Web sites make it easy to transfer the clips directly to the Internet.
So, what are you still waiting for? Go create a video!!!!
Tags:MySpace, social bookmarking, social network, video, web 2.0, youtubeTags: Video, Web2.0, Social Networks
