Youtube Moderator - What is it?

Youtube rolled out a new feature called Youtube Moderator and says it enables real time feedback from your audience. And its about starting a conversation. I cant really figure out its purpose. The best i can guess it that it allows you to crowd source suggestions, ideas, and responses from the audience, and it also incorporates a Digg like thumbs up or thumbs down voting system. Based on the popularity and scope up the thumbs up votes, Youtube can make certain discussions popular or featured.

Ok here is the deal. Its a locked system that requires you to link your Youtube account with a Google account. That kinda sucks because its just an extra hoop to jump through and as we know nobody wants to stop and re-register or whatever. Even still I'm happy to test dummy this MF'er to figure out if it is really gonna have any value for a normal Youtuber. Of course it will work for Shane Dawson or Onision who are gonna get 45,000 remarks a day no matter what system Youtube throws into their sandbox, but is there any real value for a normal Youtuber that doesn't have a million subscribers?

You can check out my Youtube Channel and play with my Moderator thing.

Follow me on Youtube and Twitter.

YouTube Channel Redesign

Youtube has been playing around with the look of their channel so I decided to make a couple quick and easy changes to my personal channel as well. I have no idea how to use Photoshop or any of the fancy illustration software packages that are out there. All I used was a simple App called Logo Studio. The results are what they are. I'm not a typesetter or a graphic designer but these limited changes I did only took about 15 minutes in total and I think it gives my Youtube channel a fresher look than it had before. I'll be watching the return numbers to see if the new look cause a significant increase in Subscriptions or views.

Youtube has also been rolling out alot of new features. There are 5 new languages available, easy share buttons to Blogger and Buzz, and a tweak to the Post a Bulletin feature that I haven't quite figured out how its actually any different than the previous version. Check out the YouTube Blog for yourself and get out there and make some videos.

42nd St. and Youtube

Have you seen the utterly pathetic offering that Youtube is proud to announce? I know its only the first round of movies and shows, but most of them are really really bad, in the public domain, or just about unwatchable. Its like Youtube is now the $1.00 Closeout bin at the front of the video store. I'm not gonna bash Night of The Living Dead cause its one of my all time favorite films. But isn't it funny, that a movie that was made by friends in Pittsburgh for barely no money, went uber viral via drive in movie theaters and made gazillions before falling into Public Domain becaue of paper mistake is now being pimped by Google as blue ribbon content. There is irony there folks.

Bottom line, all we can do is keep making content. I'm not afraid of Dario Argento and his lilttle Giallo movies or any of that other trash that Youtube thinks is gonna pull its own weight. Cause its not. Its gonna sit there, unwatched but for a few fanboys of obscure Italian horror films. Trickle trickle trickle.

YOUTUBE IS CHANGING...

If you aren't following Alan Lastufka's Viral Video Wannabe Blog, you should. The last couple posts talk about some big changes coming to the Youtube site. Basically the redesign will push the big media companies to the front of the line and push the rest of us content creators to the back of the line. Lastufka recently applied the breaks a little bit and explained that he's been in contact with some folks at Youtube but he couldn't divulge the content of those conversations. Geez whats with all the secrecy. Whats the big secret? Youtube is losing over 100 million dollars a year. To make money Youtube has to do more than just partner with somebody yelling down the barrel of the lens, and since none of us has any money to promote our videos, Youtube has to take money from those that have it. Big Media.

What does this mean for us? I think its its great, because the creative freedom is still in our corner. Simply put, we as artists can do anything and say anything we want. Big Media can't. We can make episodes for nothing, no money, no production costs, no post production costs. Big Media can't. Yeah maybe it will be more difficult for new viewers and fans to stumble across our work, but the landscape is ever changing, and the good content will continue to go viral the old fashioned way, by word of mail or email or twitter.

So let the bean counters keep worrying week to week whether or not they will have jobs. We keep making it rain tapes.

FRED Hits 1,000,000 Subscribers!?

YOUTUBE BLOG - Youtube blogged congratulations to FRED on getting one million subscribers. Reading the comments most of the Tubers are pissed off haters, and there are claims of Youtube favoritism and cheating but I dont know about any of that stuff, aas I'm not one of the million subscribers. Haters will hate. But I'll tell you who is really hating this, is the Main Stream Media - The networks and studios that are trying to gain traction online and can't get a million subscribers but some kid with a camcorder and a couple effects can? And worse, FRED's viewers, the younger generation, belong to the demographic that the Media and its advertisers covet the most. So congrats to Youtube, and congrats to Fred. I don't know if those types of numbers translate into development deals with studios or not, but I know one thing. Hollywood is watching these numbers, and are scratching their bald heads.

Filming A New Series in Miami

SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI - The Videotech Blog updates are gonna be slow through April as I am working hard on a new series for MTV. I will try the best I can to keep you neckbeards informed on what camera junk not to spend your hard earned cash on. Any Guest Bloggers out there feel like pinch hitting?
Hit me up on the Twitters.

Got 1,000 Real Fans?

WEB - The Twtterers were all going crazy about this article that says all you need is 1,000 real fans to make a living off of your art. I dont know what a "long tail" is and didnt understand alot of the big words in the piece but most of it made sense to me. If you are making and monetizing videos, read the piece. Then comment here and explain it me.

Videotech Links

Youtube - Options, options, options, according to the Youtube Blog - content creators, a fancy way of naming the people that make videos, now have options if their video is flagged for copyright violation because of music licensing. Content creators now have options. You can use the Audioswap or Youtube is offering you the chance to modify your video. This is all fine and dandy for the fanboys and girls that are uploading their favorite jams or teeting on the razor thin line of "fair use" but if you are serious about creating original videos, you really either need to be your own A&R rep and by that I mean you need to find local or not so local artists to work with. I did just that when I needed a soundtrack for the Monster Seawall Snook Video. I tapped a friend to write an original song. The video was a smash hit and so was the song. The original artist got a way to spread his music, and the video was squeaky clean by Youtube standards.


Web - One-man-band is here to stay. The ENG business is in the tank, we all know this. Stations and News services are slashing budgets on their video field crews, meaning producers are now shooters, and the audio guy is sitting at a cafe somewhere bitching about it.

Videotech Links

I link to alot of photography sites and blogs because alot of the info is also useful to video. Take what you need, leave the rest.

The Top 100 Photography Blogs.

21 Digital Camera Settings You Should Know