Digital Content, Marketing and Disruptive Technology Consultancy
I could try and shoehorn in something about OK Go building their following by doing their own thing and not relying on a record company etc, or try and find 10 marketing lessons you could learn from The Muppets, but to be honest, if you haven’t seen it, this video is just bloody brilliant.
Hat Tip to the lovely Vicky_Anderson on Twitter, who runs a great site about anything going on stage in Liverpool. (Disclosure: Vicky is an old (and valued) friend of mine).
Something I inherently felt about the rise and success of Youtube and On Demand video and TV seemed to click when I happened to be re-reading 59 Seconds by Professor Richard Wiseman. Besides being packed full of quick and useful ways to make practical improvements to your life, it also has a lot of references to relevant studies. And one referred to the role of pets, particularly dogs, in lowering stress and blood pressure.
In addition to real pets, Wiseman also mentions studies which used the Sony Aibo (Now discontinued but available via Ebay), and videos of dogs playing, and all had a similar effect at different levels.
And that’s something which people might have missed when they often dismiss a lot of Youtube or online video content as ‘dogs on skateboards’. Broadcast news has long ended bulletins, particularly on slow news days, with the ‘cat stuck up tree’ or similar heartwarming tale of human or animal misfortune. But if you’re in need of cheering up, being able to find endless videos of cute pets is guaranteed online. Including Tillman, who ended up advertising the iPhone:
But besides helping us to feel better and less stressed, there’s also an interesting flipside, which is that most of the media are in an endless race of shock and awe to try and compete with the real-time internet in new and exciting ways. The coverage of the recent London riots, and the events currently unfolding in Libya as I type, are both constantly providing examples of traditional and new media organisations and reporters trying to utilise, and compete with, the internet at the same time, leading to a strange dichotomy.
Even as seemingly clueless presenters commentated on the evils of social networking during the London Riots, the BBC and other media organisations were repeating content from, and sharing content to, Twitter, for example.
And at the same time, there’s a filtering and curation element of popular entertainment, away from the ever-increasing Fox-style shouting controversy that seems to permeate modern TV news reporting, in that I have never had access to so many broadcast channels and yet struggled to find anything which doesn’t irritate me at the very least. The reasons are many, included my awareness of all the alternatives, the possible effects of lowering resources and funding but trying to fill more hours, and the fact that so much content is being endlessly repeated across channels.
But I can get away from all this with my personal selection of things I enjoy watching, and that might help me relax as much as a skateboarding dog, or might be useful, inspiring, or god forbid, actually relevant to me at a time when I’m actually able to watch it. It would be interesting to figure out what I watch most online, but I’m certain the TED Talks would be up there, along with MotoGP, and various racing and FPS game videos, for example. And then a selection of robots, 3D Printing, Extreme Sports, Vintage Rallycross, and a mix of music videos.
But I’m never actively seeking out the news anymore. I’m letting it come to me via social networks and social sharing sites, and it essentially filters into:
But a lot of this passes through RSS feeds and Twitter so quickly, that I’m only looking at stuff which matters to me in some way, and I wonder whether that’s actually making me a happier person. I still worry that politicians are all corrupt, corporations are inherently evil, the economic downturn means everyone will be poor for 50 years unless they’re rich enough not to worry, and crime may or may not be on the increase (although in the reality most people exist in, it’s whether crime is actually likely to personally affect us).
But I’m spending less time reading about all of it, and more time actually figuring out how I might be able to do something about the parts which are more important to me – for instance, looking at what the likes of the EFF and Open Rights Group are doing with regards to privacy.
Maybe skateboarding dogs have actually have 3 noble purposes in our lives:
So the next time you’re laughing at a talented hound riding a skateboard, it’s worth remembering that they’re also serving a noble purpose in better the world…
I happened to watch the excellent Concrete Circus on Monday whilst staying with my parents (It’s available via 4OD at the moment). It’s a great programme about five amazingly talented urban sports stars attempting to make their latest and greatest videos, and heavily references the audience they’ve attracted by sharing their athletecism on Youtube.
I’ve always been a fan of urban sports (skateboarding, urban trials, parkour and BMW in this example), and for once the description of ‘jaw dropping action’ is pretty true. But I was also a little surprised when I suddenly realised the difference apparent across the living room.
My dad was sat engrossed in the action in his chair, occasionally chatting to me about what was on screen. At the same time, I’m sat with my laptop, sharing some thoughts on Twitter and also picking up on each mention of the Youtube clips which made each athlete famous, and saving each one to watch later. It wasn’t that I was using my laptop whilst watching TV – it was the fact that it was so natural that I didn’t even acknowledge it was out of the ordinary until my parents mentioned it after around 30 minutes or so.
Incidentally, having already seen videos of Danny McAskill and Kilian Martin, it was the parkour that amazed me the most, e.g.:
What I started wondering was whether it’s right to call the PC or iPad the ‘second screen’ as TV broadcasters and most media firms would have us believe. Or is it actually that the TV now occupies a similar spot in many ways to radio, in which we’ll have it on, but only pay attention when something grabs us. If I looked at my Twitter usage on a Sunday, I would guess that it builds for about 30 minutes before each MotoGP race, stops for 50 minutes while the race is happening, and then kicks off after the finish, as I mix the pre and post-race interviews and commentary with my thoughts and reactions, and those of my friends and peers.
And mobile is bringing this out with us, whether it’s the likes of QR Codes and Augmented Reality, or even something as simple as Google search. At the National Space Museum recently, I came across some information about astronomer Tyhco Brahe, and found the name familiar for some reason. Within seconds I’d realised it was from online comic Penny Arcade, and confirmed it via Wikipedia. And again, whilst watching Exit Through The Gift Shop, I ended up researching elements of the programme for friends whilst watching it.
What’s interesting is that in all of these occasions, the computer/mobile usage was part prompted through my own desire for knowledge, and mainly prompted by the social aspects of being able to answer questions/provide context and sharing the knowledge I had access to. Plus there was a strong element of fact checking with a little error correction as well!
Given the value humans put of social activity as a species, it’s not only the interactive screen which should probably be denoted as the ‘first screen’, but it’s becoming vital that whatever you’re doing to get the attention of people, whether via broadcast media, or in a museum, you need to be aware of how to accomodate the ‘first screen’, or be able to successfully compete with it (a riskier strategy unless you can jump over buildings etc).
I spent the weekend taking my son to see his grandparents and great-grandparents on my side of the family, and we also managed to get time to check out the Hornby Visitors centre and build some sandcastles on the beach. I’d link to the Hornby site, but it’s showing a fatal error on every page!
All my own work - which is why I don't work in construction
Staying offline for almost two whole days has been rather pleasant, although we did have to jump onto iPlayer to catch up with the latest round of the MotoGP championship on Sunday. But what struck me was the urge to write a blog post about something like ’10 blog tips you can learn from building sandcastles’ or something similarly odd.
Yes, it can grab traffic. Sometimes those types of post can be useful. And sometimes they can be incredibly crass and slightly offensive (need I mention the Huffington Post and the death of Amy Winehouse?).
Maybe the simple lesson is shoehorning every experience into some kind of social media and blogging lesson makes for some crappy blog posts, and I should just focus on the fact it was great to spend time with my family, and have four generations all in one place. There are some real stories in there, which are intensely personal, and I’m not necessarily comfortable in sharing, but they are the ones worth posting.
So maybe I can sneak in a lesson for blogging on a personal or business level – if it feels like you’re kinda, sorta, maybe forcing a post – maybe you should just forget it and do something more valuable?
