The Web Video ManifestoHOW ONLINE VIDEO DISRUPTED THE WORLD

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A new form of media is in our midst, and it has revolutionised the way we share

knowledge and ideas.To be honest though, web video technology isn’t all that new. Its proof of concept was demonstrated shortly after the World

Wide Web was launched, a quarter of a century ago.1

A prelude to kick things off…

We live in interesting times. The wide adoption of the Internet throughout the globe - with around 40% of the world’s

population having access2 - has brought boundless opportunities to people who have been fortunate enough to have access

to it. Instant communication and access to global information have become trivial tasks in the life of the everyday Internet

user. This great human invention helped spawn a new era of Internet based business. With the iconic Silicon Valley as the

pinnacle, these businesses grew to become the leading drivers of economies in countries throughout the globe. But this

overwhelming sea change was not without its fair share of failures though, as the business world would soon find out - to its

detriment. Some of these ventures would soon prove to be nothing more than just short-lived, carelessly thought-out, cash

burning fads - remember pets.com?3

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Businesses born prior to the Internet, and whose business systems were on a direct collision course with the new dot-coms,

either had to scramble to adapt or risk facing their demise. Sadly, the final leg toward the eventual bow-out of Borders Group,

Inc. would prove a long and arduous one.4

Global cultural and political systems weren’t spared. With the advent of Web 2.0, social media came into existence, and thus

became the all encompassing thread that linked conversations among netizens. With what was to be known as the Arab

Spring, the deployment of social media would prove indispensable in the show of political dissent. To use a term common in

tech lingo that is used to indicate a shake-up in the Industry, the world was ‘disrupted’ - in a major and significant way. 

Now back to web video…

As part of the consumer web package, the medium of video has had a significant role to play in the re-alignment of the

cultural, economic and political forces of the globe. With the founding of YouTube - a service largely credited with ushering in

a new era of content creation in the video publishing space, the stage was set for the biggest overhaul in the dissemination of

knowledge and ideas since Gutenberg gave us the printing press. This manifesto will attempt to dissect and analyse in

simple terms, the medium of video and the gains made in the publishing of it, from within the web sphere. Key trends in this

category will also be examined in an effort to highlight potential future growth. I hope you will thoroughly enjoy the read.

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The YouTube Phenomenon

The launch of YouTube back in 2005 was arguably…no,

scrap that…it was the tipping point after which web

video was to become mainstream among the Internet

populace. For the first time in the history of moving

visual images, viable self-broadcasting was finally

realised. Whether it was uploading silly cat videos -

purely for entertainment value - or the more business

centric ones, users were suddenly hurled into the video

publishing space in droves, and were commanding a

serious audience of their own - all without laying down a

dime.

As the service increased its video upload limit from 10

minutes to 15 minutes - to up to 12 hours in special

cases today5, more engaging content began to crop up,

which then subsequently drew larger audiences.

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Incumbent broadcast monopolies didn’t quite know what to make of it - they must have felt the ground shake from

underneath their feet. For the first time in the history of their impenetrable and unchallenged TV broadcast moat, there was a

real threat to their kingdom.

To get a grasp of the behemoth that is YouTube, it might be useful to catch a glimpse of its known traction in recent years:6

• There were more than 14 billion views of videos on the service in May 2010

• 300 hours of new videos were uploaded to the site every minute in 2014

• As at 2012, the site was reported to have 800 million unique users per month

• It is estimated that in 2007, the service consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000

The growth and wide adoption of YouTube - together with other rival services it helped spur - represented more than just a

shake-up to the broadcasting Industry. This menace would go on to permeate through other adjacent Industries

like; Marketing and Advertising, Music, Journalism, Film and Education - the effect of which has gotten pundits to assert that

video contributors may be about to launch "the biggest learning cycle in human history."7

Kudos to the team at YouTube for doing web video well and subsequently legitimising it. Chad, Steve and Jawed’s names will

go down in history as being among the great visionaries of our time.8

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But Why Does Video Work So Well?“A picture is worth a thousand words”

In our quest to capture the world around us, video has

been the most valuable tool we have. Human beings

have always been fascinated by the use of imagery to

capture their surroundings. The trend started with the

cave man, who often left trails of paintings - which he

smeared on cave rocks - to document his sights.

Sometime in the mid 19th century, we had a major

breakthrough with the invention of the camera, which

allowed us to take photographs. A couple of decades

down the line, motion-picture cameras were invented,

which enabled the creation of video. Web video was to

represent the latest offering within the image food chain.

It can only get better.

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Video is engaging

Consider these metrics and judge for yourself:9

• 2 times more engagement is generated by Instagram videos than by Instagram photos.

• 12% of people made a purchase after watching a video ad.

• 22% of people visited the advertiser’s website after having watched a video ad.

• 26% of people will be triggered to search for more information after watching a video on a certain topic.

• 32 videos per month are watched by an average Internet user.

• 40% of Internet users prefer visual information over textual information.

• 41% of well-to-do shoppers admitted they preferred video ads and online search to other advertising formats.

• 46% of people took action after watching a video-ad.

…the list goes on and on. In key Internet related performance indicators (traffic generation, user engagement, customer

conversion), video has certainly proven a compelling tool to make use of.

The low barrier to entry

The advent of affordable and widespread broadband in most regions of the globe, has made it easy for Internet users to

participate in the web video publishing space.

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The portability and convenience of modern day hardware

The proliferation of Internet enabled smartphones - with built-in cameras, has made it easy for users to capture and publish

video to online video platforms, very easily and swiftly.

Video helps invoke meaningful conversations

The limitation of words in their ability to relay useful information is a well known paradox. Words are often taken out of

context. Human beings are complex creatures which communicate in subtle ways, including by way of facial expressions. For

example, the blink rate of a person’s eyes might reveal how nervous or at ease that person is. Scientists have even gone as

far as to figure out that we have 21 distinct facial expressions.10 It all goes to show that video allows us to reveal more of

ourselves to each other.

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Where To From Here? - Trends

Different trends have been making waves in the web

video space in recent times, and in this section, we will

highlight just a few of them;

Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

AR and VR are two nascent technologies that promise

to be the next big video platforms.

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What is AR? - Augmented reality tech works by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. Elements in the real-world are

augmented (or supplemented) by computer generated digital objects - screens, menus and other data (see section image

above).

What is VR? - Virtual reality tech replaces the real-world with a simulated one - the user is completely immersed within the

computer generated altered reality.

In order to gain access to the other-worldly digital realm, both technologies require special hardware to be mounted on the

user’s head - It’s simply and magnificently the stuff of science fiction. Although both technologies are still in their infancy, a lot

of headway has been made by Microsoft in the AR space with its HoloLens device. Facebook on the other hand recently

purchased a company which has been raising eyebrows with its VR device, known as Oculus Rift. Real world applications

that stand to benefit from the use of these devices range from gaming and communication, to architecture and the medical

field.

When these devices are finally released for production to the market by their respective companies, they will make their way

into the hands of people like you and me. Now tell me, isn't that amazing?

Video Comments

Offering commentary in the form of video on online forums has been another burgeoning trend of late. With waning visitor/

reader numbers, social blogs have had to resort to the medium of video in order to keep readers engaged. Facebook - the

leading social network - took up on this trend when it introduced on behalf of its users, the ability to comment on a post with a

video clip.11 This validation by industry titans is an indication of the power of video in its ability to keep users active on

services.

Apart from improving user engagement metrics, Video Comments also go a long way in breaking the cycle against the

scourge of Internet trolling. Internet trolls - also known as very annoying people - have been a bane of online forums since

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the dawn of the mainstream Internet. Online communities that allow anonymous participation by users, have often been cited

as being breeding grounds for this most unfortunate behaviour. Granted some people will genuinely prefer to stay

anonymous while on the Internet - for all kinds of sensible reasons, video tends to be a deterrent against trolling, as it

inherently fosters openness.

Social video networking post YouTube

Back in 2011, the global sales of mobile devices (smartphones) were reported to have eclipsed that of desktop computers for

the first time in the history of computing.12 This was a significant milestone as it marked a new era of computing on devices. A

thriving ecosystem of mobile application (app) development activity, coupled with an eager app user-base, helped spur the

popularity of these devices even further. It was only a matter of time before video based apps would start to make their way

onto users’ devices. Snapchat and Vine are but just a pick of the bunch - and leaders in their own right - among the services

within the mobile video app category. The former is a video messaging service started by Stanford University alumni. In

recent times, it was reported to have had an activity involving the sending of around 700 million photos and videos per day.13

The latter is a video sharing service with an estimated user base of 40 million, with 100 million people watching shared

videos on it each month.14 With this much activity on these services, you can certainly brace yourself for more developments

to come in the mobile video space.

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What Should You Do?

The idea to write this manifesto came from a need to

conscientise people about the power of web video

technology in 2015. If you have gained something,

anything at all from reading this document, then my

mission is accomplished. If not, I’m nonetheless still

humbled that you decided to give this paper a chance.

Thank You.

I challenge you…

The world is a different place to what it was a handful of

years ago. Technology has grown in leaps and bounds,

and it has made it possible for the human race to make

huge strides in areas that were previously thought of as

being locked-down and inaccessible.

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The spate of innovation experienced within the video publishing space in recent times, calls for you to relinquish your role as

a bystander, to be a part of the greatest melting pot of creativity the world has ever seen.

It might not be apparent to you, but the old TV model is dying a slow death. The old model was characterised by a one-

directional push of narrow viewpoints from an elite sub-group, which had all the broadcasting privileges. In the new

dispensation, self-broadcasting has made it possible for more diverse ideas - emanating from different sources - to be heard.

Whatever you’re currently involved with, I invite you to be a part of this revolution of self-expression.

Join the conversation, have your say, push your ideas, gather an audience, lead the way.

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“May the Force be with you”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Through their fledgling tech startup, MOHAU MPOTI and his friend (turned business partner) created a premium WordPress widget, which allows readers of a blog to upload Video Comments in response to posted articles. They have joined the video revolution.

SHARE THIS WHITE-PAPER

CONNECT

You can connect with Mohau on Twitter: @MohauMpoti or drop him an email.

CREATED

This document was created on June 2015, and is based on the best information available at that time.

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CreditsReferences and additional information

1. A short history of online video http://blog.treepodia.com/2012/02/a-short-history-of-online-video-part-1-before-youtube/ 2. Internet users http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/ 3. pets.com was a dot-com enterprise that sold pet supplies to retail customers https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Pets.com 4. Borders Group, Inc was an International book and music retailer that filed for bankruptcy in 2011 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Group 5. Upload videos longer than 15 minutes https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/71673?hl=en 6. YouTube Company history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Company_history 7. The statement is attributed to TED curator, Chris Anderson in 2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_of_YouTube8. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chan and Jawed Karim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Company_history9. Video is the future - 100 facts and stats about video content http://buzzkeep.com/future-100-facts-video-stats-123655/ 10. Which face is 'happily disgusted'? Scientists discover that humans have 21 different facial expressions http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2593459/Which-

face-happily-disgusted-Scientists-discover-humans-21-different-facial-expressions.html11. Facebook now lets you add video to Facebook comments http://www.reelseo.com/video-facebook-comments/ 12. Industry first: Smartphones pass PCs in sales http://fortune.com/2011/02/07/industry-first-smartphones-pass-pcs-in-sales/ 13. Snapchat wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapchat 14. By the numbers: 25 amazing Vine statistics http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/vine-statistics/ 15. “May the Force be with you” is an iconic expression from the star wars movies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Force_%28Star_Wars%29

Image Credits

• Cover image courtesy of https://blog.po.st/

• YouTube generation image courtesy of Jonsson, https://www.flickr.com/photos/karljonsson/488412425

• Charlie Chaplin image courtesy of http://wallpaperswide.com

• Augmented Reality illustration image courtesy of http://www.gamespot.com/

• Frustrated guy image courtesy of https://pixabay.com

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