Video sharing

While last year we would have done anything to avoid sitting down in a darkened room to eat fondu and drink cheap Chianti while the neighbours talked us through their slides of hols in Tenerife, now we can't get enough of downloading any old tat people care to share online.



Video sharing is 'the new black' when it comes to Internet use. So much so that YouTube, the internet video sharing site set up less than two years ago, has just been sold today for $1.35billion. Sites like this allow people to share their content, video, pictures, audio or text, with a global audience quickly, simply, for free and with little technical know-how. And people have taken to it like ducks to orange sauce.

More than just sharing files, they allow people viewing the site to choose which content is best and, by rating it, create a well-ordered list of best content.

YouTube and its new owner Google Video have excellent search facilities (hey, it's Google, what did you expect), but what if you want, say, a site full of great Plymouth videos, pictures, audio, etc. Well then, how about the Herald's www.makingplymouthgreat.co.uk , which went live this week.

So what's with all the self-promotion, I hear you cry. Ahem.

Well makingplymouthgreat, which shall henceforth be known as MPG, is a truly unique project in its desire to become a digital time capsule, and it is partially inspired by one of the biggest and quickest success stories in internet history.

YouTube. No, calm down, its not an insult. For those unaware (have you been hiding in a cave?) YouTube is a site that allows people to upload and watch videos, any videos. Like You've Been Framed on a global scale, without Harry Hill's 'comedy' commentary. Sound dull? Don't fancy watching someone's dodgy home videos?

Look, granny's tripped over the cat, again. "Another fractured hip Nan? Ah well, the £250'll come in handy."

Or maybe its more like buying a second-hand VHS tape from a car boot sale and only guessing what's on it from the scrawl on the peeling label.

Well, maybe.

And Google has just spent, or agreed to spend $1.35billion on that second-hand video tape found under a pile of tea cosies.

YouTube, still not an insult, has risen from nothing less than two years ago to become the dominant force in internet video sharing, and was today bought by Google for approaching one and a half billion dollars. YouTube has also signed deals with big media companies Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and CBS to carry some of their vast libraries of video footage.

When I say dominant, almost 50 per cent of all video watched on the net is watched through YouTube. Not bad for a site started in garage by two hippy-types, and run from an office populated by rats for several months.

Some 72million individual users view 100 million clips a day.

So what will Google bring to the mix. Shed loads of cash.

And more. Google Video is a great site in its own right, having an 11 per cent share of the online video market. So that will be merged. You will probably be able to search for

YouTube videos direct through Google. And you will probably be able to download those videos.

Google will bring a level of expertise and experience that should help YouTube overcome potential copyright issues which could have generated Napster-style problems. (great site, closed down by the big boys because people were illegally sharing audio files, now back, fully legit)

Of course it is possible that this takeover and the big deals with temper the kind of content you get on YouTube. That remains to be seen. If so, other sites will rise in its wake and attempt to steal its crown. (is that a mixed metaphore?)

So what does all that mean to the man in Royal Parade? Online video sharing will continue to grow in dominance. We are no longer slave to the television, being told what to watch and when to watch it. We are generating our own content, and users are deciding how good it is. Their votes elevate it to the top of the list, so more people watch it. This is the way of the future. With Google's weight behind the process it should only accelerate.

And if the man in Royal Parade is a hippy-type with an urge to create a new website, it means you better get on with it.

So, ahem, back to the self-promotion. MPG. You probably have some great pictures or videos on your mobile phone, digital camera or laptop. Maybe they give a glimpse into the heart and sould of Plymouth. Maybe you want other people to see them. Not only is MPG a place to share you videos etc. with anyone who cares to watch, it is also a project which will create a digital snapshot. All the content, basically video, picture, audio or text examples of what you think makes Plymouth great, will at one point be archived. That archive will then be sent around the world and into space.

The whole universe will get to know what you think makes Plymouth great.

Video sharing eh? Clever stuff. Think I'll buy a site.

Anyone got a spare $1.35billion?

IN OTHER NEWS

A new online TV channel broadcasting political news has been launched. 18DoughtyStreet Talk TV says it will revolutionise political and internet broadcasting. Personally, I'm sticking with downloading clips of exploding Diet Coke bottles on YouTube, but whatever floats your boat.



A national heritage history archive blog project is being held on October 17. English Heritage, the National Trust and a bunch of charities are inviting people to upload a blog on that day onto the website www.historymatters.org.uk.

The content of the site, also backed by the BBC and the Daily Telegraph, will be archived and held forever in the British Library. I'll get my library ticket now.