Socialmedia

From the Queen of England to the queen of your ‘hood, from aspiring filmmakers to Hollywood studios, from high school graduation videos to citizen reports of revolutionary moments in Iran, it all has a home on YouTube. this creates a really big challenge: how do we design a site that reflects so many different users, experiences and videos? this is a question we’ve thought about a lot since we launched in 2005. The result of some of this thinking (some might say over-thinking) is a video page chock-full of features that reflect a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but can feel cluttered and a little overwhelming. We’ve spent a lot of time over the last 10 months asking ourselves some tough questions about this page and posing some of those questions to you in blog posts, roundtable discussions, one-on-one conversations with the community and even on forums like our Product ideas for YouTube page.

Today, we’re excited to unveil the first major example of our efforts to simplify and streamline the video page to offer the best possible watching experience to you. to check out this new look all you have to do is opt-in. Click on this link to try it out (anyone can opt-in, but for now page elements are only in English). to revert back to the old video page, use the opt-out link at the top of the new video page or opt out here. We’ll be making the opt-in more easily accessible soon, but we wanted to give our most passionate users a chance to experiment with it early.

Below are some highlights of some of the things that have changed and why. You can also check out our “Getting started Guide” in the Help Center.

Streamlined look and functionality — the video is the star: this concept is at the heart of the redesign. YouTube is about creating and watching the world’s biggest video collection; therefore, the design should make the video the star. to that end, the new look is more subdued, stripped down and simple than before. The design should help ease users into advanced features, while providing power users with all the functionality they want.

New “next up” video list: We’ll be smarter about queuing up other videos for you to watch on the right side of the page that will take into consideration how you found a video. for example, if you arrived at a video through Search, the rest of the search results will follow you to the playback page so your can continue to browse search results on the video page. The same goes for playlists and recommendations; if that’s how you found a video, then that’s what will show up on the right side of the page. Again, this is about creating a consistent viewing experience — and a relevant one when we include context about your viewing intentions.

Description and stats areas united: more specific information about the video you’re watching is now in one place on the page: underneath the video. Click on the “Description” snippet or the Views to see more. this new expand capability works on multiple elements of the page so you won’t have to learn a new trick to view each piece of data. The result: less clutter, especially on the right side where you look for the next video to watch.

Cleaned up actions bar: Actions like sharing, rating, saving or flagging a video are now all grouped in one place, with a cleaner, simpler “button bar.” we thought a lot about practicality here, choosing to expose only the most commonly used actions and language for you. and, “Playlists” can now be built via the “Save to” pulldown menu.

Simplified binary ratings: As we noted in an earlier blog post, the rating system on YouTube doesn’t really work that well (e.g. only the 1 and 5 star ratings were ever really used). So we moved towards a simpler “Like / Don’t Like” model. Liking a video will also save it to your Favorites to make it easy to find those videos again.

New player sizing and video quality controls: We’re adding a new size control into the player that allows you to pick a larger size to watch your video (formally above the player). When you pick the size, we’ll serve you the ideal quality. for those of you hungry for more control, you can pick the specific video quality (for example, SD, HD or 1080p) in an associated drop-down menu. We’ll warn you when we think there may be a better quality choice, but the control is in your hands.

Search results within the page: now you can now search while you’re watching a video and results will appear on the right side of the video page, without interrupting the viewing experience.

More prominent channel/subscriber placement and a new “see more videos” feature: Subscriptions are important to many of you, so we’ve made it more noticeable by moving the “Subscribe” button to the top of the video right near the title. this also gives anyone the ability to quickly peek at more videos from the creator’s channel. (Just click on the arrow next to the number of uploads on the person’s channel to see more videos from that user.) You’ve told us that making you hunt for this information on the page is confusing and many of you wanted this data in one place. this should make it easier to discover more content from videographers you like.

So those are just a few things you’ll find in this new video page experience. As with all things on the Web (and in life?), change is hard and can take some time to get used to. That’s why we did a lot of research, talked with so many of you and incorporated your thoughts into this latest back-to-basics playback page. So go on and “opt-in” to give it a whirl, and let us know what you think either in comments down below or enter feedback via this survey. Who knows — you might see some of your own suggestions in future iterations of the page down the road.

Julian Frumar, User Experience Designer, recently watched “WTF Collective,” and Igor Kofman, Software Engineer, recently watched “Zion-I featuring K. Flay – “Coastin’” [The Takeover].”

Apple clearly recognizes the importance of the mobile web, but did they get trigger happy and launch the iPad too soon? the launch of the new Apple device has lit up the internet with all sorts of criticisms, praises, questions and opinions. a question remains for those of us in the search marketing and social media world—how will these tablets incorporate the use of social media?

The Apple iPad and other tablets like the HP Slate and the Amazon Kindle are finally providing affordable mobile connectivity to the internet for those who may have not seen a need for an internet-capable phone. with a bigger screen, touchscreen QWERTY keyboard (and the ability to attach a full-size apple keyboard) and iLife capability, tablet devices are making it easy for older consumers and businessmen and women to justify purchasing an iPad instead of an iPhone, Blackberry, or Palm Pre. while the price point is above some netbook computers (especially the Acer brand), the iPad exemplifies the pent-up demand to meet a simple need: constant online connection.

The iPad is just another mechanism for people to communicate from anywhere—the airport, coffee shops, long car rides—wherever. because it already supports iPhone applications like Facebook Mobile and TweetDeck, it will be easy for social media users to integrate the iPad into their everyday online social media activities. However, even though this is a mobile device, it may not be as logical to bring an iPad out of a bag or purse while in a business where texting and using a cell phone is more acceptable, like while standing in line in the grocery store or waiting at a stop light while in traffic. However, the iPad’s size may be just right for those looking for a mobile device that can allow them to do (and see) more on a bigger screen and with an attached keyboard.

Social media greatly hyped up the announcement of the iPad, and it could certainly help it become successful once it launches in the Spring of 2010. Tweets, posts on Facebook, and emails may have the tag “sent from my iPad” furthering the conversation between iPad owners and their online contacts. furthermore, making the option to share documents, images and text from iLife to contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media sites may help the iPad bridge the gap between desktop publishing and online communication. there are many opportunities to harness the power of mobile web and reach out to the users who are now using it for hours a day.

How to prepare for the coming wave of tablets

Tablets are going to be the next big thing, but they will not replace computers, netbooks, or cell phones (including smart phones). That said, social media activity on the iPad will be different than that on a cell phone, as mentioned above. Social media on the iPad and other tablets will be mainly about sharing information and files—things like e-books, links, documents, etc., instead of details about our lives—status updates about what you’re eating, tweets about what the dog is doing and other chatter that clutters up the social media space. Social media use on the iPad will most likely be more professional—happening when users are sitting down and have time to concentrate. in addition, the iPad will most likely initially be purchased by adults and working professionals because of its bigger screen and simplistic navigation, making it more popular with the crowd that uses social media services like LinkedIn and Facebook to network instead of share information about their personal lives with friends.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Posted by Jay Baer

Among the many exceptionally interesting data snacks in the recent MarketingProfs’ State of Social Media report is one showing that businesses of all sizes and types are primarily using Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, and blogging.

And while it’s on one hand a positive that we’re stating to see some norms and best practices emerge within social media, it’s a tremendous mistake to restrict your social media activities to just the “Big Five.”

There are literally hundreds of other places your customers could be talking about your brand within the social Web, and it’s imperative that you hear all of them. If a subset (even a small one) of your customer base loves Tripadvisor, or Yelp, or FriendFeed, or their Ning group or whatever, that does not make them less important to your brand’s perception than people on Twitter or Facebook, it just makes them a different segment of your audience.

Remember, there is a REASON they spend their time within the social ecosystem on Yelp and not Facebook – because that’s the community they PREFER. and in fact, people that make choices that are less conventional tend to defend those choices more passionately than the “me too” crowd. and, because there are fewer total users, the opinions of any individual are magnified.

Further, regardless of where the content is posted, it will be found and indexed by search engines, becoming part of your brand’s permanent record, like that crappy tattoo of a hummingbird you got in Cancun.

Dear Marriott: Pay Attention

Consider this horrifying example for Marriott. I did a quick check of Google Sidewiki (a plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that lets you comment on Web pages, and those comments are “stuck” the Web page like a Post-It note). I found this solitary post, ripping Marriott for not removing this guy from their email newsletter list. I’m not sure what’s worse, the company not paying attention to secondary and tertiary layers of the social Web and thus not finding this, or knowing about it and not leaving a reply. Either way, their silence is deafening.

Do millions of people use Sidewiki? Not yet, but since it’s a Google project, there’s a fair chance it will take off. and for the people that are already using Sidewiki, doesn’t this impact how you perceive Marriott? and now I’ve shared it with all of you, so a comment on a “minor” social outpost continues to fester, unabated.

I realize it’s a hassle to monitor your brand across all of these places. it takes time. Time you probably don’t have. but you know how municipal police forces crush graffiti problems? they paint over it immediately, wherever it occurs. It’s a lesson that applies equally in social media.

The days of “if we answer back, it just gives them credence” are over. take off the blinders, remove the earplugs, and defend yourself.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 8:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About the Author: Jay Baer is a tequila-loving, hype-free social media strategy consultant and coach. an online marketing pro since 1994, he’s worked with more than 700 companies, and 25 of the Fortune 1000. He’s one of the world’s most popular social media bloggers, creator of the 8-step Social Media Strategic planning Process, and the Twitter 20 series of live Twitter interviews. He spreads his “think tools last, not first” message around the country like a digital dandelion, speaking to conferences, small groups, or passers-by. Check out his blog at Convince&Convert.

Facebook nabbing its first FPS: brave Arms

by Ben Gilbert { Feb 6th 2010 at 7:30PM }

Our biggest gripe with Facebook “games” most times is the lack of actual gameplay involved in them. Things like Mafia Wars seem much more like stat management spreadsheets couched in a social networking medium rather than games with a social media component. that said, it seems that 3G Studios is bringing a full on 3D shooter to the website in Brave Arms, announced this week and set for a March launch.

As the screenshot above corroborates, Brave Arms puts players in the first-person perspective for a Team Fortress 2-eque cartoony death match. CEO James Kosta says in the press release announcing the game that, “Our new title, Brave Arms, will bring first-person shooter games to the masses.” Snarkier, meaner bloggers might mention games like Doom, Quake, Halo, or Call of Duty at this point, but we wouldn’t do that. Nope. No sir. We’d just say something like, “How has EA not jumped on Facebook with Battlefield Heroes, nonetheless id Software/Bethesda with Quake Live?” As you might imagine with this type of free-to-play fare, there will be some form of microtransactions, though nothing has been explicitly detailed just yet.

[Via Games.com]

Tags: 3g-studios, battlefield-heroes, brave-arms, call-of-duty, doom, facebook, fps, halo, james-kosta, microtransactions, quake, quake-live, team-fortress-2

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