January 12, 2009

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Video Killed the Radio Star...Is Publishing Next? The latest (very small) issue of Wired magazine features an article from Clive Thompson called This is Your Brain on Video. It's a good read for anyone but particularly important for those of us in the publishing world. Here's my favorite excerpt: In a sense, you could argue that even after 100 years of moving pictures, we still don't know what video is for. The sheer cost of creating it meant we used it for a stiflingly narrow set of purposes: news, documentaries, instructional presentations. Those limits are rapidly changing, of course, thanks to sites like YouTube. They're having dramatic effects on publishers as more and more Googlers are finding excellent short how-to videos to solve their problems. I was a perfect example of this a few months ago as I embarked on a project to replace some carpeting in our house with hardwood flooring. I had zero flooring experience prior to this project but a quick Google search turned up several short (5-7 minute) how-to videos. I watched a couple of them, tore up the carpets and never looked back. A few years ago I would have bought a flooring guide at Lowe's or Home Depot. There's no need for that now with all the great free videos right at your fingertips. Looking back, I wonder if the publishers of all those home improvement how-to guides are even aware of the free videos that are chipping away at their revenue base. If you're in the publishing industry have you done much research to see how video is affecting your business? If it isn't already it will be soon.

Joe Wikert

I'm Chief Operating Officer at OSV (www.osv.com)

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