11 Things I Love (and Hate) About Online Video Communities

6. Instant rock star status
Everybody loves to see their own faces on TV. Whether its silly video chat spats, Karaoke Idol wars, or friends having fun, people love to be talking (or singing) heads. And whether 20 friends or 2 million strangers watch your video, there is a similar sense of satisfaction in knowing that you wrote, directed, produced, starred in, edited, and uploaded a video that people watched. I love it when people get involved and do something cool (especially if it involves something blowing up).

7. Spam, spam, spam, spam
I hate, you hate, we all hate spam. Unfortunately, the social networking and viral power of these communities has also produced a method for those nefarious spammers to participate in the conversation. I am not looking for the next hot penny stock, I don’t need to refinance my house, and I definitely don’t need a miracle herb product to boost my confidence. As long as these sites and tools remain easy to use and free, we will be dealing with this issue. But ultimately the positive elements of these sites outweigh the annoying videos from a few spammers.

8. Your grandma doesn’t care
I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but a large majority of people still have no idea what YouTube, Google Video, or the host of other funky-named Web 2.0 companies offer. I hate it when a small group of immersed technorati think that everyone should jump off the bridge with them. There is a large target audience that will probably never use your site, and that is OK, as long as you know who your target audience is and what they want. Focus on that and let your grandma get back to surfing eBay.

9. It’s REALLY easy
I love technology, and it becomes cheaper and easier to use every day. I encourage you right now to try this experiment out. Go to one of these sites and sign up for a free account. Shoot some video with a webcam or your family video camera. Load it on your computer (or get your kid or the neighborhood geek to do it for you). Upload it to the site and marvel at your first step towards becoming an internet rock star. I told you it was easy. This has helped make it easy to spread to others (like I am doing right now), and has pushed for wider adoption by non-geeks.

10. The playing field is level (at least for now)The kids in China with a webcam and a desire to lip-sync Backstreet Boys songs can and regularly do compete with the corporate-produced content. It really is about the content, and not about how polished it is or having the latest fancy bumper music and graphics. One person with a video camera can capture the attention of the world and hold it captive.

11. The future is bright; better have shades
The debate about consumer-generated video communities will rage on as the big players engulf more start-ups and the power of the consumer becomes more mainstream. I love to see what the future holds for these social experiments, and I know this phenomenon will only spread to a wider demographic. But I would hate to be the one holding the hosting bill.

If you have an idea, then I have 11 things that I love and hate about it. Submit your ideas to me at jose@thinkjose.com.