No, it’s not my new video podcast, but an actual hdtv from Vizio with build in wifi networking. The so-called digital convergence has been talked about for years, but here is the first product I have seen that might actually make it a reality. The Television has built in wireless networking and support for Blockbuster, Netflix, Pandora, Amazon Video and an open architecture that will allow for future upgrades and additional services. It even has a remote control with a QUERTY keyboard. Large media companies are in fits over services like Hulu and Boxee but clearly pandoras box has been opened and this kind of connectivity between the Internet and common devices like a television is where things are going. It shouldn’t matter so much to the big media companies, however, as they should realize their bread and butter is the content not the delivery mechanism. The real problem is the incredibly complex and integrated businesses and licensing model this is all based on. Like many other business models, this one is going to have to be completely deconstructed and rebuilt from scratch for the new connected world.

So the question we always want to answer here at Connected World Media, what does this mean to your business? It means the world of the big screen TV may be opening up for you. In the past there was virtually no way anybody but the largest businesses with the most money could get onto television. TV advertising is just too expensive for most businesses. But now, the TV is open to the Internet and services that nearly any business can participate in. Already there is opportunity with YouTube as Apple TV will show those videos. I can’t imagine it won’t be too long before the Vizio connected TV starts supporting YouTube and possibly other Internet video services. You could develop a Boxee application and gain access via that route. Bottom line, there are effective and inexpensive ways for your company, your brand to get onto peoples big screen TV’s. But don’t hit them with the same old garbage from your marketing department (sorry marketeers). You had better be engaging, relevant and entertaining.

Well the online video world at least. The latest statistics on the new iPhone 3GS and YouTube are staggering. The iPhone has a history of taking something that has been around for awhile on other mobile phones and blasting it into the mainstream. Browsing the web was nothing new on a mobile phone when the iPhone was launched, but Apple took it to such a level and made it so easy and fun to do, mobile web traffic has exploded since. Now it’s happening with video. Nokia phones especially have always been great for taking video, but it has taken the new iPhone 3GS with it’s built in video capabilities to make it massively popular. Again, Apple takes mobile video to the next level by allowing simple on phone editing and super simple distribution to YouTube. I’ve always thought mobile video was going to be the next big thing and it looks like the new iPhone is going to confirm that thought.

What does it mean for your business? All this new video is going to drive more people to YouTube to watch. It will solidify YouTube’s dominance in the online video world. If you are doing any kind of video for your company and you do not have a YouTube channel yet, you are passing up a massive opportunity. You simply cannot afford not to be on YouTube. You should also be watching and monitoring YouYube for videos about your company or your industry. What are people saying, what are they thinking? This is the best market research/customer opinion lab you have ever had. You may not like all the content, but you had better pay attention and be ready to respond and engage.

What kind of opportunities are you giving your customers, your raving fans to share their videos? Maybe you should share the best YouTube videos on your main website. What other ways can you encourage people to create good video content about your company? These are the kinds of things you should be brainstorming with your social media consultant. Don’t have one? You might want to give me a call, I’m happy to help.

I’ve been experimenting with video more, as you can see by my Connected World TV episodes. I am learning on the fly and there is a lot to learn, so again I thank you for your patience. Part of the learning curve is determining how to distribute video on the Internet . There are a vast array of services that you can post your video to, all with their own particular advantages and disadvantages. Here I offer you an overview of some of the more popular sites.

YouTube is the granddaddy of them all and is an important platform to be on because that’s where the numbers are. YouTube has far and away the largest numbers of viewers. I don’t think you an afford to avoid YouTube under any circumstances. YouTube is also compatible with both Apple TV and the iPhone so there is another large and growing channel.  The video quality is decent, maybe not quite as good as other services, but the HD video looks on par to me. YouTube also makes it super easy to post videos to your blog and has a customizable player.

Viddler is another good site with some unique features. Video quality on Viddler is very good and the real draw is the built in ability to overlay your own logo onto the video. This custom branding of videos is very desirable for any brand.

Blip.tv has very good video as well and it’s unique feature is that it can convert video into multiple formats at one time. Upon uploading of a video it will crate a Flash video and, if you choose, an iPod compatible version. Blip also has some mild personal branding of their player but nothing as good as Viddler. Blip has very good sharing, allowing you to post your videos to your blog and even to Facebook.

Vimeo is a popular site with some because it’s video quality may be the best of all. I have not used Vimeo much at all and it appears to be somewhat limited in it’s capability other than excellent video.

An important thing to remember are the upload restrictions when dealing with these general purpose video sites. YouTube is pretty generous but has as limit of 10min. Viddler and Blip have decent limits and Vimeo has the most restrictive. HD uploading is sometimes different than non-HD video. Many of these sites will allow you to upgrade your limits with a premium paid account. Check each site for details.

Ustream is a good platform if you are going to be doing live broadcasting. Ustream is strictly a live platform. You don’t upload pre-recorded videos although any live videos you to shoot are saved to the service for viewing later. Among the live broadcast services, Ustream has the largest audience and a good set of tools, including an interactive chat room along side your video. Ustream doesn’t have a strong mobile client yet but for shooting with a built in webcam, it works well.

Qik is a specialized service for cell phones and is an amazing live mobile video service. It works really well from a jailbroken iPhone and you can even view Qik videos from a special iPhone web page. There are also Qik clients for many other cell phones including most modern Nokia phones. I use Qik for all my live mobile video.

Seesmic is a special case. Seesmic is really for video “conversation”. Videos on Seesmic are usually recorded by webcam and are very short. You might think of Seesmic as the Twitter of video. People watch videos and often start conversations with videos going back and forth, all in a public stream. The problem with Seesmic is it’s a walled garden. Inside Seesmic, you can meet good people and have interesting conversations, but video from Seesmic rarely gets outside of Seesmic. It’s a very limited audience. The other big problem with Seesmic is it can take a great deal of time to view all the videos in a conversation. A 5 video thread with each participant talking for 2 min would take 10 min of time to view. And that’s just one conversation. I don’t use Seesmic anymore as I don’t have time to view and respond to all the videos. Conversation on Twitter is faster and more efficient. Seesmic is an interesting idea, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

That is a somewhat technical overview but, of course, the other shoe to drop is what do you actually do with these services? How does this help my business? Stay tuned, the answers are forthcoming.

From the past post, we learned how damaging video can be to a brand online. What’s even worse, is when employees do it to their own company. This video, originally posted to YouTube and since taken down, features two Dominos employees in North Carolina doing disgusting things to the food during preparation. They thought this was very funny and posted it to YouTube. A marketing nightmare.

Fortunately for Dominos, someone notified them of the video and they took quick action to get it taken down. They also did a great thing by putting their president on video with a response, also posted to YouTube. The president is great in this video. He is serious, a little angry and authentic. Domoinos did well limiting this disaster but it brings up several points.

• Brand monitoring: It was very fortunate that someone notified Dominos of the video, but Dominos should have been monitoring social media sites themselves. They might have been able to catch the video even faster.
• Training: It is now critical to train all employees on the use of social media while at work and while not at work if it involves the company at all. Sensible guidelines for all employees will help safeguard employees and the company.
• Speed and Transparency: The big lesson here is the speed of response and the transparency and open honesty. Dominos did not try to hide anything that happened or sugar coat it in any way. They dealt with things head on.

One of the many effects of social media is to amplify things. Your successes can become bigger and your failures can become disasters. Pepsi ran a promotion with the New York Yankees that involved giving away baseball tickets along with Pepsi gear. They promoted 200 tickets were to be given away. Hundreds of people lined up and waited for hours upon hours. When only 100 tickets were actually available, the crowd went crazy, chanting Pepsi sucks and throughing Pepsi cans in the gutter.

This campaign was completely offline but has been dramatically effected by online as this video is now on the net and making the rounds. You couldn’t ask for a more damaging spectacle. Pepsi, for their part has admitted they completely blew it and are trying to make amends, but the damage is done and thanks to the Long Tail of the Internet, this video will live on for a long time.

Hulu is the newest and best place on the Internet to watch TV programs, but they are pulling out of the innovative Boxee software service that runs on PC, Mac and Apple TV. What it all means for Internet video and the future of television.

Listen To The Show!

Despite claims to the contrary, new media does not herald the death of old media, not necessarily. When done right, new media can greatly enhance old media. Case in point was the job CNN and Facebook did teaming up to cover the Obama inauguration in a way never seen before. You could watch a live stream of the CNN television coverage and on the same screen be live chatting with Facebook friends. This was an amazing new way to experience a live television event. It felt like a communal experience, even though my Facebook friends are spread out around the world. It was also a textbook example of new and old media blending together, both enhanced by the strength of the other. This was the true power of possibility for the future.

I can imagine lots of other great applications of this kind of blend. How about the Super Bowl? How about The Oscars or your favorite tv show? Can you imagine the producers of Lost getting realtime reactions and feedback from their audience as they show is airing? Want to bring people back to the live show and stop them from watching on Tivo? Make the live experience unique and exciting, something you cannot get on Tivo.

The CNN/Facebook experiment was a watershed event with far reaching implications. I have been very impressed with CNN lately and their progressive use of new meida. They were the first network to use Twitter to interact with their news audience during broadcasts.

Gary is one of the preeminent people in the New Media world. If you aren’t watching his videos and following him on Twitter, you should. The teachings in this video alone are staggering. Watch it and you’ll be on your way to getting a masters degree in New Media Marketing.

Seesmic is already an interesting video platform but this new WordPress plugin takes things to the next level. {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/YDCHJRXiqP_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”Seesmic Video WordPress Plugin ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/53MaznvsaV”}}}

Blockbuster is taking the only logical step left to save it’s business. As I wrote about already, the online film rental market is not there yet and the opportunity is open for someone to take the lead. I think Blockbuster is taking the right road with a hardware box, but it remains to be seen what the user experience is. They may be building upon the Movielink service they purchased but Movielink was never a very good service and was saddled with lots of arcane DRM. This will surely doom the service unless they have changed things.

In general I don’t trust Blockbuster to pull of either the hardware or the service. It’s not what they do and unless they have a very good partner to help them, I foresee failure. If they can put more pressure on Apple, however,  to get more movies on iTunes or Netflix to accelerate their online initiative, their effort will be worthwhile for end users.

It’s funny to read statements in the article like Blockbuster needs to be careful not to canabolize their brick and morter business. That’s old school thinking. That business is already dead. The best way to survive in a changing world is to put yourself out of business before someone else does. Blockbuster does have a strong brand name and a window of opportunity here to make the leap. Are they savy enough to pull it off?