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Feb
28

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

Category: Content strategy, Digital strategy, Social Media Tags: , , Leave a Comment

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.

Feb
4

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3 Viral Video Campaigns You Gotta Love

Category: Social Media Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

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 lot of road trips and that I actually like driving it means nothing. I have just given in to the fact that by driving this vehicle, all coolness as left the building. When Toyota came out with the Sienna family in the “Swagger Wagon” video, I did begin to feel just a little better:

Now there is a whole series about Swagger Wagon families on their own YouTube video channel. Does this make minivans cool? Maybe not. But it does foster appreciation for Toyota and recognizes how much coolness we give up by driving them.

Mayhem – Allstate

Enter Mayhem. He he’s got personality and he’s trouble no matter where he goes. Mayhem is a tad creepy and entertaining at the same time. This memorable video series is on TV as well as on YouTube. My personal favorite – the outdated GPS (because it hits close to home):

Check out the entire Mayhem TV channel (there are several funny videos here).

Old Spice Guy (yes, I had to mention this too).

Not going to go into too much detail – between the random nature of this plus the male hotness involved – this sells a mens product to a female audience like no other. I never get tired of these. “The Oyster is Now Diamonds…”

Aug
20

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Dr. Michael Wesch and the Future of Whatever

Category: Digital strategy, Social Media Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

In this presentation, Dr. Michael Wesch (Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography @ Kansas State Univeristy) explores the history and future of “whatever” and its relationship to how the online world is changing us, how we relate to each other, and what we are all going to do about it. Going from “whatever – I don’t care” to “let’s do whatever it takes” this is an inspiring and intriguing look at how the online medium (specifically video) is shaping our conversations, community and sense of self.

Jun
5

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Feed my Twitter Addiction? Learning from a digital native.

Category: Internet Strategy, Site-seeing, Social Media Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

This video is hysterical – it’s by Kaleb Nation (aka Twilight guy) – and extremely creative, talented author, musician, blogger and more. He is a digital native.

I shared this because it is VERY entertaining, plus this is a learning opportunity. Here’s why:

He has more that 7500 followers on Twitter

His YouTube channel has just under 30,000 subscribers

He just published his first book, and made his own trailer (with music he created)

He has 2 blogs, one for Twilight Guy and one for himself (and his book)

He constantly connects all of these things. He creates additional excitement and activity via twitter, with contests, and with blog.tv.

Even if you are not geeky like me and into the content, pay attention to how he has managed to create an extremely powerful brand, reputation and following.

Oct
16

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Grab your digicam and video your voting experience

Category: Digital strategy, Social Media Tags: , , , Leave a Comment

YouTube and PBS are asking us to video and post our voting experience.

Read the announcement here.

The videos will be collected on YouTube. It will be interesting to see what folks come up with – collectively this will become a great social documentary and testament to the power of social media.

I’m excited, are you?

Jan
10

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The web IS changing us

Category: Digital strategy, Social Media Tags: , , , , Leave a Comment

I never get tired of this – it’s a very thoughtful perspective on how the Internet is changing our lives, our culture and our sense of community…and to think that 5 years ago, we all thought that the Internet would cause people to stop talking to each other. Now people are connecting with each other more than ever and in ways never before imagined.

This is part of the Digital Ethnography working group at Kansas State University – where they originally began looking at they way YouTube connects people accross the planet:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g]