Make Seriously | Design and Life

YouTube Socks are Sagging…

So, there’s this nifty thing on the web, used by millions, perused by millions more. It’s called YouTube, and when used well it could be your next best friend. Besides being almost as entertaining as the “Stumble” button that takes you to random websites on the internet, it provides a chance to be creative and get noticed. (For reasons both good and bad)

First a little background information. Youtube’s primary use is to allow users to upload and share videos they’ve created with others. These videos can be seen online on websites, sent via email, embedded on blogs, or viewed on a mobile phone. Currently, YouTube is owned by Google, which pretty much owns everything. Despite a long history of copyright controversy in YouTube’s relatively short life-span, they’ve signed partnership deals with companies like CBS, Sony Music Group, an Sundance to provide viewers with the ability to watch proprietary content and listen to proprietary music.

Now that you know a little background, it’s time to get started. You can upload video content straight to YouTube via the website, or you can also upload content via an MMS from your phone. This means you can, for example, record Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech and upload it to YouTube without ever leaving the mall. (unless, of course, security shuts down all of the cell towers in the area. In that case, you’re hosed) You can also connect your videos to your Google AdSense account. This allows you to generate revenue from viewers watching your video. And, if you’ve done a great job of getting noticed, users can also subscribe to a feed you set up. Every-time you post new content, they’ll know about it and will be able to follow your updates.

Once you’re really in the groove, Google being the creative innovators they are have set up “TestTube” to experiment with new user experience software. Right now they have up four. First are video annotations. They’re kind of annoying if you ask me, but they basically allow users to add annotations right into their video content. They can be used super creatively. They just normally aren’t.

And Google being what it is, they’re always up for some creativity. And they never frown on creative reqruitment.…

So check it out.

Why Social Media is Important, and Will Continue to Be

Time and time again I’ve come across blogs and mainstream media writers discussing one of two things:

- The demise of social media
- Marketers “ruining” social media with advertising

Both of these cause an involuntary raise of the eyebrow, especially when the articles they are writing are bordered by the exact things they decry. You can, of course, visit any of these sites as you find yourself in the paradox of a form of social media supported by advertising decrying the use of advertising in social media. There’s a clear lack of symbiosis to say the least, and it seems both counter productive and counter-intuitive.

A study by Rosetta and released by PRNewswire (09/08) shows that 59% of retailers are using Facebook. And that’s significant, and it also raises certain questions. Why on earth would a business want a facebook and why would “facebookers” want to be friends or fans of these businesses. Well, for one, there’s the phenomenon of brand loyalty that can’t be overlooked. Consumers often want to show their support for a certain brand (I have an apple sticker on my back window…) or group, and this is one way to make a public endorsement of a company. It’s a give and take relationship too. The Apple Students group for example, offers periodic “samplers” for those who are a part of the group. Who complains about ads when you’re getting free music? More importantly, who even notices the “ads” when it’s free episodes of Tina Fey’s material from 30Rock and SNL, or music from your new favorite emerging artist?

What the doomsayers of advertising keep forgetting is that it’s not a bad thing. Yes, it’s pervasive and overwhelming. Yes, sometimes it can be a bad thing. But advertising is not inherently intrusive, and often people actually crave it to be a part of their every day life. As mentioned in the study from Rosetta, “It’s important that retailers don’t just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook.” That’s true. Taking an “everyone’s doing it” approach to promotions will lead to market saturation and will prevent you from making a positive investment and prevent you from fostering client relationships. And that’s the value of companies using social media:

- It creates a way for advertisers to connect with clients/users without appearing as ads.
- It drives innovation. Burger King, while slightly disturbing, has shown that buzz can come from creativity and innovation, even if it might make you cry yourself to sleep at night.
- It helps you communicate new, interesting things to the people who clearly care. One of the most valuable business lessons learned in school is that new client relationships are less cost effective than improving existing relationships. If you can do both at the same time on the same budget through social media, you’ve just created value for all involved.
- It removes the stigma from advertising. I can vote for which ads I’d like to see more of and help Facebook target me for things I might actually be interested in (like new movies or Obama’s inauguration). Why on earth would I complain about news I want to hear? Because it somehow defiles Facebook? As though it had far to fall from “Stalkerbook” status…
- When done well, it gets rid of the chaff. Good ads and innovation force the hands of those taking the cheap route. Brand recognition is one of the strongest forces in decision making, so failing to effectively advertise in an increasingly more difficult environment will mean failure to establish brand recognition.
- Have I mentioned it drives innovation? When you crowd out the market with GOOD advertising and effective communications, you force people to do better work to compete. That’s also not a bad thing, especially when the thing our economy needs most right now is innovation.

Finding Value in the Economic Crisis

Current events like Cindy’s release from Xpedx are symptomatic of a much larger problem that appears to be coming to a head in the economic crisis. Times are tough right now, and companies are cutting costs. Those cuts tend to come first from advertising, marketing, and all of those places that generally involve jobs like mine in the design industry. There was a particularly dreary article published in Newsweek by Harvard Business that emphasized just how much people may stick their heads in the sand and attempt to keep rebuilding the dyke instead of addressing the oncoming tidal wave.

In that article, the author writes:

“Instead of finding more ways for us to all yap at each other, in this more sober economy we may want to emphasize other priorities. What new products and services will make for better, healthier lives and relationships? How can companies improve their performance? How can teenagers improve their math and science skills, instead of their texting skills?“

That’s the sad viewpoint that so many people are taking these days. Combine with that the number of people who continue to suggest that web 2.0 devices like Twitter are merely for us to “yap at each other”.

We can take the author’s suggestion and turn our backs on some of the greatest technological and mass media innovation since the printing press -or- we can take this opportunity (especially as designers and innovators) to push forward despite the recession and maybe even turn things around. We can be proactive and actually build value when the rest of the world is looking retain theirs. And it’s not even something we need to do special besides be who we already are: people whose value is in their creativity and their ability to create value for others.

As I’ve mentioned for the at least 1,237,683^2 time, Twitter is far more than a microblogging tool that allows us to chat colloquially, it’s a mass communication tool, an organizational tool. It’s a very powerful device. And there are other sources of web 2.0 power like LinkedIn and YouTube that can be creatively used to bring new value despite a bad economy. The reason the Newsweek author is wrong is because he lacks the insight to think creatively.

Basically, it comes down to us. The designers. We have to be proactive. We have to be creative. We are in a unique position to bring change in tough times, and we have to be willing to meet this head on instead of cowering in a corner.