Google Video Tipping Point

My mother just emailed me a link to this video about using "bump keys" to open locked doors. As interesting as the video itself is, the point is this: MY MOTHER sent me a link to something on Google Video! Surely that's a sign of a tipping point? (I think the Book of Revelation also had something to say about what happens when your mother sends you a link to Google Video... I think it's one of the signs).

This makes me think of an argument I've been having lately with a bunch of MSM people. It's this idea of "watercooler chat" media. There's this idea, which may be true in part, in the minds of the mainstream media that we (their audience) have some Maslowian need to all watch/read/listen to the same thing so we can talk about it the next day around the watercooler, like we are so pathetically desperate for some sense of social identity that we need to rely on Big Brother to feel whole.

I've been explaining that this isn't what happens when I catch up with my friends for coffee. Our conversations go more like this:

"Hey have you seen that clip from The Daily Show where Sam Jackson was talking about why he made Snakes On A Plane?"

"No, I haven't. Shoot me the link!"

"Yeah I will."

or

"Hey have you seen the Urban Ninja videos on YouTube? This crazy kid who can seriously run up a wall?"

"No, getthefeckouttahere. Shoot me the link!"

"Yeah totally."

or

"Hey have you heard that new podsafe track that James Brown put up on PMN?"

"No way dude! James muthafucking Brown??? SHOOT ME THE LINK!"

"Ow! I feel good!"

Now that even my 59 year old mum, born and bred and still living in Bundaberg (rural Queensland, about as far behind the modern world as you can get without going to Uganda... I think even Bono is petitioning the IMF for debt relief and cheap AIDS vaccines for Bundaberg), is flicking me the coolest Google Video links, I think we can safely say the era of "one-size-fits-all" media is coming to a close.

Comments

[CD]

With all due respect to your mum...she probably got the link from a friend in a mail and click on it. She watched the video and found it pretty cool and she thought you might like it or even better you might want to interview those Dutch dudes for one of your podcasts...

Or is your mum already an addict of Google Video?

[scientaestubique]

That's exactly the point!
Google Video is as easy to use as clicking on a link.

Be on the lookout for Anne Geddes videos.

[Mark Jones]

Hey Cam. Agreed, but that "Maslowian need" is still why MSM attracts big ad dollars, particularly TV. And yes, that share is declining etc etc. What interests me is how the link sharing idea will feed back into the content creation side of MSM. It's already happening, and will get stronger in response to the new media threat.

[Cameron Reilly]

Mark, that's possibly a big oversimplification, don't you think? The reason MS gets big ad dollars is that they were the ONLY game in town for the last 100 years. Restriction of supply does not equate to lack of demand. :-)
The media landscape is long overdue for a correction of the supply vs demand equation and now it's starting to happen.

[scientaestubique]

I will gladly pay for the content I want.

I want fresh content, not a 2 year delay after the US release.
I want the sections of the newspaper I read, without the stuff I don't.

This is basic stuff to supply, but it's just not available.

It's the main reason why piracy is so attractive to so many these days.

When people have money and are willing to pay, but no one is supplying it, it's an unbalanced equation. An illegal free download seems less unfair when the content can't be purchased in the format it's wanted in, at the time it's wanted.

Content producers needs to remember that people want to enjoy their products, not feel like they've been ripped off or that their time is being wasted.

Looking at most people's DVD collections, there's a habit of producers to force customers to watch advertising that can't be skipped, in a product they've paid for.

MSM only still attracts big dollars because advertisers aren't sure where to go when they leave MSM behind.

They already know half their advertising is wasted, soon they'll just stop paying for that half.