YouTube Collab? Content creation and mass collaboration by 12 year-olds

by Susan Cato on February 28, 2011 · 0 comments

In a recent exchange with my 12 year old daughter, I learned about a simple, yet brilliant phenomenon going on via YouTube – the collab.

Summary of our conversation:

Daughter: Mom, I am SO excited because I just got accepted into a collab

Me: A WHAT?

Daughter: A collab on YouTube – you know, where different people submit videos to one channel each week around a specific topic for that week.

Me: OH! You mean collab as in collaboration? So what are the rules? Where can I read them?

Daughter: (Blank stare) What do you mean, read them? They are in a video, duh?

Me: Oh. Silly (old) me. So how did you get accepted?

Daughter: I had to audition with a video response on her YouTube channel.

Me: So you had to make a video in order to audition – that’s pretty neat. What is the topic?

Daughter: All about Guinea Pigs. It works like this. One week it will be how to build different cages, the next week it will be guinea pig nutrition, the following week it will be tips and tricks to make cage cleaning easy, etc. I have Wednesdays, so each Wednesday I have to submit my video on the topic of the week. This way, we can find out new ideas and ways to take care of our guinea pigs by having different people contribute different videos on the same topic. I also learn about different ways to make my own videos by watching these as well.

Me: (to myself) Sigh. I have so much to learn.

…

Is it just me or is this really brilliant?

YouTube collabs are not a new idea – but  through her eyes, I see all kinds of possibilities.

This is content creation and mass collaboration by 12 year-olds – they are creating a really valuable content-filled channel through collaborating with like-minded individuals, around common topics. Needless to say, the wheels are now turning in my head. Could this approach support any current strategic objectives in my organization? Could we use this to solve a problem in our community? Can schools/classrooms use it to learn about new ideas and concepts? Could it be an alternative way to report on news topics? Create music?

It seems that all that’s really needed is a clear topic/idea, along with some simple guidelines (deadlines, content, etc) as well as clarity around  approach (how do videos get accepted, etc) and a core community of interest to get started – unless I am missing anything?

I did some poking around and found YouTube’s “Life in a Day” project which is probably the most popular and successful example of something like this. Please share other examples if you find them – I am really interested to learn how people are using this concept and let me know what you think.

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5 examples of actionable Facebook pages

by Susan Cato on February 14, 2011 · 1 comment

Recently I spent some time investigating Facebook pages that went beyond just pretty pictures that link off to other websites. I was looking for functionality and apps that facilitate an action within the Facebook environment – without forcing you to leave the site. I like investigating these because they help inspire ideas in general.

My questions about these things in general – Is what they are offering valuable (or fun) enough for me to use? Is it so cool or so valuable that I will be ok with sharing my personal info via Facebook connection?

Here is what I came up with:

Target
Click print go – print your Facebook photos directly to a local store. If you store your photos on Facebook – Target is offering a seamless app where you can print your photos and pick them up at a local store – without ever leaving site. CVS does this too, I just happen to heart Target.

Starbucks
Manage your card balance or gift Starbucks to your Facebook friends. Starbucks allows you to gift Starbucks to others on Facebook and manage your gift card balance without even leaving the site. This is all done through a well-developed, self-contained Facebook App. In essence, they are making it really easy for folks to give them money without ever leaving Facebook.

Walt Disney World
Create a memory book online with your Facebook photos, get answers about your upcoming trip, make a Disney stick figure family to post and share with friends.
I am not a huge Disney fan, but their Facebook gadgets are pretty cool – and diverse. There are several different widgets built onto different sections. It’s worth spending some time there – I can see how Disney fans would love this.

American Red Cross
The American Red Cross Facebook page is pretty comprehensive, providing up-to-date info on the latest disasters and an app to help you locate your nearest chapter.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie page
I couldn’t wrap-up this post without mentioning something geeky, and being that I am a dedicated Harry Potter fan this seemed appropriate. They have provided a section where you can download wallpapers and icons, listen to the entire soundtrack, view the movie trailer and more. July 15th can’t come soon enough!

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3 Viral Video Campaigns You Gotta Love

February 4, 2011

Swagger Wagon – Toyota No matter how hard I try to remain cool – driving a minivan just compromises my ability to do so. I know it – even though I call mine a “high performance minivan” I just can’t hide the fact that it is still a minivan. The fact that we take a [...]

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Communities of taste, social media and lame demographics

February 2, 2011

I recently viewed a TED talk by Johanna Blakley “Social Media and the end of Gender” (available on TED) – highlighting how social media levels the playing field with traditional demographic groups such as gender, age or race and focuses more on “communities of taste” – groups with a common interest, passion or purpose. I [...]

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Super Simple Checklist for Ongoing Social Media Activity

February 1, 2011

I drafted this up for folks within my own organization who were afraid to ‘jump in’ and get started with social media.  This list is VERY basic, but I find it helps for social media newbies. Daily Send out helpful, interesting Tweets anywhere from 3-6 times a day (using original content from your organization – [...]

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Getting focused – 5 strategies for overcoming ‘information overload disorder’

January 31, 2011

I don’t know about you, but the more I live and work in the online world, the more easily I become fragmented and less often am I able to be really focused on any one task.  I call this IOD or ‘Information Overload Disorder’. This is a problem on many levels. Although I am constantly [...]

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3 posts to help cure bloggage

June 25, 2010

I have been suffering from some serious ‘bloggage’ -  a term commonly used to describe one’s inability to find the inspiration or time to blog regularly. I dug into my arsenal of links and recovered the following three posts about blogging. These posts provide practical ideas and techniques to come up with ideas for topics [...]

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Social Media, Social Networking & You

May 3, 2010

If your organization is using social media and social networks and you are wondering where you fit in – this post is for you.  The problem is, most people don’t understand what this is, are not sure why we need to do it or can’t see how it fits in to the bigger picture, and [...]

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Social media strategy and content strategy: like peas and carrots

December 16, 2009

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times. Developing a content strategy and plan is extremely critical for a successful social media strategy. You can’t invite folks to dinner without offering them a meal. And why does everything come back to food, anyway? or shoes – oh yeah, that’s another [...]

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Dell, the value of social media, and shoes

December 10, 2009

Manish Mehta, Vice President, Social Media and Community for Dell recently wrote about the value of social media in the Huffington Post. Mehta cites that sound business strategies are “rooted in developing, maintaining and strengthening relationships with customers.” Social media enables us to do just that – if managed in the right way. Mehta goes [...]

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