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February 21, 2007
YouTube live and in person
YouTubers organized their own ad-hoc, unofficial convention last weekend in San Francisco for what looked to be hundreds of attendees.
They arrived from all over, including Australia, just to hang out with one another outside in a public space.
Just think if YouTube were to host its own official convention. It could invite the top 10, 20 or heck, 50 YouTube stars or wannabe stars, plus equipment providers, content consultants and the bazillions of commenters, lurkers or the simply curious. It could easily pack a good-sized theater or arena for an official convention.
Given YouTube's growing ranks of amateur stars (pop group Barenaked Ladies recruited a handful of them to co-create its new music video), a convention could be a hybrid of Fan Fair, which attracts 160,000 country music fans to Nashville for four days of music, autographs, and photos with stars and eBay Live, in which 10,000 eBayers pay to be part of a pseudo Woodstock and Comic-Con.
YouTube Live, anyone?
What last weekend's user-created convention should be telling the managers at YouTube and Google is that their business is not just providing digital bits to the masses; they're in the business of facilitating community, something that many traditional media barons still find unsanitary, as if one bad comment will spread like a bacterial infection and kill them. A YouTube Live would solidify bonds of loyalty true believers already feel for the community and the service.
YouTube is going to need that deep-rooted loyalty as competitors like Joost spring up. The guys who launched Skype are behind Joost, which is partnering with big traditionalists like Viacom and betting the market will be interested in a cleaner, more corporatized video distribution model than the Wild West anarchy of YouTube.
Other blogs that reference YouTube live and in person:
You make an interesting point. We're used to seeing brand communities come together to celebrate products (e.g. Harley Davidson), now we're seeing products that exist solely online have the same effect. Proof that although technology changes, psychological needs do not (I suppose Maslow would base this on a belongingness need).
Great idea on the official convention - I agree, I think it would go over well...it could be turned into a contest too like American Idol.
As of Joost...we'll see, I'm hedging my bets on their failure over the long term. It looks kind of cool, but I don't like their sign up before you can check it out thing - that already tells me they just don't get it. And the fact that a big media company is backing it up front is also a problem, I predict another Divx ending.
Great post...
You are absolutely right...when your users get desperate enough to organize the event themselves, that should tell you something!
Brian
