Passive Marketing with You Tube

This all started as an assignment for one of the Informatics classes that I am taking currently.

You Tube has quickly become a major news outlet. This can be for traditional news sources or from everyday people looking to get an idea out to the general masses. A definition of news is needed because what You Tube is giving people access to is not always what we think of as traditional news. Traditional news is the coverage of stories and events that impact our lives and can change the way we conduct our daily lives. You Tube sometimes presents "news" that does not necessarily have any impact on anything. For example, an individual posting video of other people doing stupid, yet entertaining acts. But in contrast, it is not uncommon to see a major news network using a You Tube video when covering a news story. You Tube has quickly changed how news is spread and interpreted just like it's fast growth on the Internet.

When You Tube first came about it was to post simple video files for public viewing. A way for people to upload, in video format, what they were doing and seeing around them. People were posting videos of high school football games, new additions on projects, a child's recital, etc. These video posts were usually harmless and often quite entertaining to the viewer; however, rogue groups of people did not think before posting video's of violence or vandalism. This led to the exposure of the way some kids and groups interact with each other. Videos of hazing and abuse began to pop up and really bring attention to these acts that are shunned by society. These videos shocked and appalled many, but at the same time brought issues of hazing and abuse back into the forefront of society. This is a good result from acts of cruelty because it has people talking and discussing what needs to be prevented and has given people the drive to educate against and prevent senseless, violent acts. You Tube has helped educate and make people aware of some deviant behavior in our society.

While inadvertently educating people, You Tube also quickly morphed into a way to self promote and really get ideas out to a large audience in a short period of time. Just as You Tube showed society what kinds of hazing and abuse were going on around them, it also became a way to mass market ideas and promotions to people. People and businesses saw how fast bad media was spread and acted upon and realized that You Tube could be used for good and profits. Individuals began to self promote with full force their ideas and skills and companies saw You Tube as an economically viable means to reach mass audiences with little effort when they had new ideas and products to pitch to the world. You Tube went from a simple means of conveying meaningless video clips to mass audiences to a tool that is used to market and promote people and business ideas.

Now you ask how can I use You Tube to help me and my business? Well, don't go and come up with a commercial promoting yourself or your company. One has to be more subtle with their approach to You Tube promoting. Here is an idea, make a video that concerns whatever it is you do. For example, make a video of the work progress on a real nasty, grown up site. Show how your crew was able to work around nature and what She is capable of producing to hamper work flow. Or, show a short business documentary of a development meeting that you are conducting in-house for a major project/client. Be creative and come up with an eye catching video that tells about you or your business.

This Web 2.0 phenomenon of You Tube is a great trend and the way the Internet will be used in the future. User driven content, uploaded to media sharing Web sites, is the way the Web is going. People and businesses have been able to look beyond the dribble that began the trends of Web 2.0 and have been able to harness the previously unseen power of You Tube and use it to gain promotion and profits. These new ideas and ways of interacting with others and the Internet will be the business trends of the future.