CNBC has published a great interview by Maria Bartiromo with Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt. In the interview, Schmidt says that figuring out how to make money off YouTube has become the company’s top priority:
Bartiromo: Let me ask you about YouTube and MySpace. YouTube has these phenomenal growth rates. What do you think is behind that?
Schmidt: Video is powerful. And it’s amazing. You know, we started off with Mentos and the other sort of fun videos, and now people, because they have so many digital cameras, are essentially uploading everything. Furthermore, we’re beginning to see glimpses of significant professional content on YouTube. People are using it–because there’s such a large reach, they’re learning how to reach that audience.
We’re working but have not yet in my view gotten a breakthrough around monetization. So while we have lots and lots of traffic and we have lots and lots of interesting and creative people and all sorts of controversies–we’re blocked in countries, so on and so on–I don’t think we’ve quite figured out the perfect solution of how to make money, and we’re working on that. That’s our highest priority this year.
Bartiromo: Which is a huge priority, clearly. A lot of people feel like this is an amazing opportunity for you. So, as far as monetizing that business on YouTube, do you think that takes a year? Does it take the next five years? What’s your time frame on that?
Schmidt: We believe the best products are coming out this year. And they’re new products. They’re not announced. They’re not just putting in-line ads in the things that people are trying. But we have a number–and, of course, Google is an innovative place. The Yahoo! team are trying various new forms of advertising, ones which are much more participative, much more creative, much more–much more interesting in and of themselves. Google believes that advertising itself has value. The ads literally are valuable to consumers. Not just to the advertisers, but the consumers.
Bartiromo: They want to look at them.
Schmidt: When they’re targeted. When they’re the right ad for what you’re doing or what you care about.
In a nutshell, Google’s top priority is making video advertising as contextual as its text-based advertising options.
Can Google Make Money From YouTube?
ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick has a great commentary on the interview. He suggests that Google will struggle to make money off of YouTube, because the Internet is creating a massive shift in how people use their time:
Passive media and advertising does not have a bright future, and many people in those industries who are watching the direction the internet is going know it.
Old media has assumed people just want to consume but that the internet is showing that people want to consume, produce and share. If just a tiny fraction of that consumption continues to shift towards production and sharing - there’s going to be some serious cultural and economic disruption going on.
That’s why YouTube has to come up with something fundamentally more engaging than banner ads run next to music videos.
While Kirkpatrick and others, like author Clay Shirky, make strong cases for the continued growth of user-generated content, they seem to ignore the fact that most people still like passive consumption.
Most people read Wikipedia, but never contribute to it. Most people watch YouTube videos, but never post a video. Most people watch or listen to podcasts, but never make their own.
There may be big opportunities to make money of active Internet media - but history, the current state of the Internet and human nature suggest that there’s an even brighter future for companies, like Google, trying to make money off of people entertaining themselves on the Internet.
I recently had a (way too brief) conversation with PodCamp NYC 2.0 co-organizer John C. Havens, VP of Business Development at Blog Talk Radio and fellow Advisory Board member of the Association of Downloadable Media. (He’s on the right in the photo, with Chris MacDonald.) John wanted to talk about this PodCamp’s wider appeal to students and educators, and about how the organizers are putting the spotlight on new media and podcasting in education:
“One comment I wanted to add to [our interview with co-organizer Whitney Hoffman] is how excited I am that this year’s focus is on educators/students. Teachers have always come to PodCamp, but we really tried to reach outside of the standard audience for PodCamps to connect with people influencing students to such a great degree.
“Also, educators are some of the most forward-thinking people in new media. I think that’s often overlooked. So, selfishly, I wanted to learn from people whose voices are outside of strictly tech circles to see case studies of what they’re doing, to implement tools effectively.
“Basically, I think it’s vital to get outside of our echo chambers, whatever and wherever they happen to be. Nothing wrong per se with those chambers, except that innovation dies in a vacuum.”
Havens is also author of an upcoming book on the role of communications in promoting business transparency, which comes out later this year. In the meantime, the interviews for the book are being published as a podcast.
Podcamp NYC is coming up this weekend, April 25-26, at Brooklyn Polytechnic. Podcamp NYC is an unconference focused on educating participants on how to use, implement and share all kinds of new media tools including, podcasts, videocasts, blogs, Second Life, Facebook, and YouTube.
The conference is free to attend, but you must register in advance.
LD Podcast creator and PodCamp NYC co-organizer Whitney Hoffman talked with me recently about the upcoming event:
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: How is PodCamp NYC2 different from its first incarnation?
Whitney Hoffman: Podcamp NYC 2.0 is happening over two days this year, at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. We’re also having a focused track on education, and how new media is affecting education. One of the things I’m most proud of is how the event is really coming together, and how much support we’re getting from the community, both in terms of attendees and in terms of Sponsorships. We’ve got a year’s worth of experience under our belt, making Podcamp NYC a more known quantity, and people are a little more sure of what to expect.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Who should consider coming to PodCamp (is it mostly experienced podcasters, newbies, salespeople, etc?)?
Whitney Hoffman: The best thing about Podcamp is that it is a mash-up. Newbies, educators, whether you are an ed-tech person or not- business, marketing and PR folks, traditional media people and those who’ve been hanging around new and social media for a while will all find something interesting in the sessions.
Both the founders of Podcamp, Chris Brogan and Chris Penn will be presenting, and even Tim Bourquin from the Portable Media Expo will be attending this year. There are sessions ranging from social media strategy, to how-tos, to how to get your message across. There’s inevitably a lot of sessions about the business of podcasting and new media- how to market your podcast, build an audience, to how to deal with metrics.
In the end, it’s the cross section of people and topics that really makes PodCamp special. You don’t often find musicians, artists, hobbyists, teachers, professionals and business people all in the same space and at the same conference, yet it’s this cross-pollination that sparks interest and some great new ideas.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Can people still sign up?
Whitney Hoffman: We have a limited number of spots still available, so while people can sign up until a few days before the event, I’d encourage them to sign up soon, before they go on the wait list.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Do people sign up to present sessions in advance, or on the day of the conference?
Whitney Hoffman: We have people sign up in advance of the conference to present. We have room set aside as a bloghaus and for impromptu sessions, but unlike BarCamp, we do plan a schedule out in advance. This is mainly because we have 785 [people] already signed up to attend the event- logistics of moving this many people around requires a little more advance planning.
We try to put things into general subject tracks, dictated solely by the sessions, so it’s a little easier to find the type of content you might be interested in - ie. marketing and business in one room, education subjects in another.
People are free to attend whatever session they want, and to leave a session and find another if that session isn’t meeting their need. They are free to create their own as well.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What are some of the sessions being offered?
Whitney Hoffman:http://www.podcampnyc.org/page/2/ - this is the best way to get a good look, or at the wiki- I’m working on the schedule right now, so this is subject to change.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What can attendees, um, participants, expect?
Whitney Hoffman: PodCamp is all about participation and asking questions- not talking heads. Sessions are 45 minutes in length, and we give presenters guidelines that they should plan on talking for about 30 minutes and leave the rest of the time for questions and discussion. But many times, the group discussions and panels that are all conversation and interchange can be the most interesting sessions of all.
PodCamp is about connecting with others and forming a community. I have made some truly wonderful friendships that have changed my life through PodCamp. While my podcast is about learning and learning disabilities, I still have many things in common with the video podcasters I know, marketers, PR people …. They each teach me how to challenge what I do and try to do it differently and better every day.
I’ve learned about new tools and ways to connect, and these connections then help me in day to day projects. I’ve gotten jobs through PodCamp, and more people know me through Podcamp than through many other circles. I’ve helped organize five PodCamps to date (with another two in the wings), so you know this means alot to me.
When people come up to me after a Podcamp with a wild look in their eye, saying “This is the most fantastic conference I’ve ever been to…” I know how they feel, because I felt that way after the first PodCamp in Boston, and I joke that “you gotta be careful when you start drinking that Google juice” - short hand for figuring out how to get the most out of what you’re doing online.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What are some of the things that you, personally, are most looking forward to?
Whitney Hoffman: Hopefully I covered that in that last response! I love seeing (now) old friends, making new ones, meeting people in person I know through Twitter or by reputation only and extending that relationship, watching people get so excited by learning, and helping others. I love seeing the event and community come together. Knowing you helped make it all happen is a really powerful experience. I always come out of PodCamp a little tired and overwhelmed by all the information, but also so energized with new ideas, it sustains me for months afterwards.
Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What else should we know about the event?
Whitney Hoffman: Be sure to check our website at PodCampNYC.org for the most recent updates. We’ll have a guide about PodCamp coming out shortly with all the logistics information anyone could want. I’d just like to also thank all of our sponsors* for helping to make PodCamp happen in NYC and elsewhere. Because PodCamp is becoming so well-known, sponsorship is pretty low cost and a great investment for companies. We’ve had an easy time getting the support we need this year to make the event happen. I really appreciate their vote of confidence.
YouTube and C-SPAN have partnered to launch a program to allow voters the opportunity to voice their views on the issues most important to them in the 2008 election.
YouTube Voter Video on C-SPAN is encourages voters to respond to the question “What issue in this election is most important to you, and why?”
From now until the eve of the Pennsylvania primaries on April 22, you can upload videos to C-SPAN’s YouTube channel. Each submission should focus on a single issue and include the name and hometown of the person submitting the video.
Ideally, videos will include a visual context for the issues they address, and mention the candidate best-equipped to tackle the topic at hand. A selection of videos will air on C-SPAN beginning Sunday, April 13 on Road to the White House and during other network political programming.
In addition to online submissions, voters in Pennsylvania will have the opportunity to record their videos from the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 Bus.Â
“As candidates enter the final stretch of this exciting primary, we offer voters the chance to voice their opinions on the issues that matter most in this race,” said Steve Grove, YouTube’s head of news and politics. “We are especially pleased to join with C-SPAN to inspire voters as they address issues that will affect Americans and the global community when the forty-fourth president takes the oath of office in 2009.”
Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur, who’s got to be the A-1 top of the food chain numero uno most charismatic French new media entrepreneur ever, announced today that his company had acquired Twhirl, a Twitter client.
Not just any Twitter client, though - le plus grand Twitter client.
Seesmic is a video blogging and conversation platform that makes posting videos so trivial that it becomes practical for informal video conversations. Twitter, similarly, trivializes the process of Web content creation.
Twhirl is a client that may help bring these worlds, along with others, together in interesting ways.
Le Meur offers twenty reasons for integrating Twhirl with Seesmic:
Staying in touch with your friends using microblogging is much easier using a client than through your browser
We got in touch entirely through using Twitter and Twhirl… how cool is that? Okay, we also used Skype a bit to close the deal
Most of Seesmic team and investors constantly use Twhirl, made things easy!
Marco was already in the process of adding Seesmic support to Twhirl. That is how we got together and thought about him joining in, not the other way round
Adding video to Twhirl will be a plus to the Twhirl community. It will remain optional — we won’t break it!
Twhirl is free and will remain free
Marco has the same international vision, already supporting english, german, spanish and italian (hey where is french!)
With Twhirl being based in Germany, Seesmic now has a presence there which will help with the erman version and community
Marco will have more means to improve Twhirl as he will join Seesmic full-time and will be able to utilize the Seesmic’s support and infrastructure
We are only at the beginning of microblogging, the space is very exciting and new
Marco Kaiser is super cool and it is all about people
Seesmic is in a very interesting position.
It’s got a unique service in a sweet spot of a lot of trends in technology. Internet video is exploding, mobile content creation and consumption is up and social networking is getting more and more powerful.
Twhirl should help Seesmic users deal with all of these trends.
Podcasters Across Borders, a Canadian podcasting unconference, has announced its schedule for the 2008 event, being held June 20-22 in Kingston, Ontario:
The Legal Guide is organized like a book, with a hyperlinked table of contents, but is also searchable by state, topic, or keyword. Topics include starting a business, privacy concerns, and intellectual property considerations. CMLP says that the guide is a “work in progress,” so users may want to check back from time to time for additional information. The group also invites lawyers, academics, journalists and others to help them in their work to “facilitate citizen participation in online media.”
The CMLP provides legal training and resources for people and organizations involved in different aspects of citizen media, as well as doing research and advocacy on issues relating to free speech, newsgathering, and intellectual property.
It starting to look like geeking out with new media may be good for your social life.
First, Cosmo revealed that the Apple Store is a great place to meet people “for a fun fling or a long term relationship”:
Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conductive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise.
Yep - the Apple Store is the place to meet those podcasting hotties.
Researchers James Baker and Professor Susan Moore have written two papers investigating the psychological benefits of blogging, regularly updating personal web pages with information that invites others to comment.
The research, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, found after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who did not blog.
Bloggers reported a greater sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people and feeling more confident they could rely on others for help.
All respondents, whether or not they blogged, reported feeling less anxious, depressed and stressed after two months of online social networking.
What do you think? Can blogging and podcasting improve your social life? (more…)
Two thirds of all Americans are dissatisfied with the current state of journalism, and most now regard the Internet as their most important source of news, according to a new Zogby International survey.
The survey also found that while most Americans (70%) think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities, two thirds (64%) are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities.
Other highlights of the research:
Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40% who said the same a year ago.
55% of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online, compared to 35% of those age 65 and older.
Overall, 29% said television is their main source of news, while fewer said they turn to radio (11%) and newspapers (10%) for most of their news and information.
Just 7% of those age 18 to 29 said they get most of their news from newspapers, while more than twice as many (17%) of those age 65 and older list newspapers as their top source of news and information.
Web sites are regarded as a more important source of news and information than traditional media outlets - 86% of Americans said Web sites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) who view these sites as very important. Most also view television (77%), radio (74%), and newspapers (70%) as important sources of news, although fewer than say the same about blogs (38%).
The survey has clear implications for podcasting and new media - people are looking to the Internet for news and information, but may not be ready to trust new news sources. The onus is on new media sites to establish a track record and build that trust.
Overall, the survey finds the Internet not only outweighs television, radio, and newspapers as the most frequently used and important source for news and information, but Web sites were also cited as more trustworthy than more traditional media sources - nearly a third (32%) said Internet sites are their most trusted source for news and information, followed by newspapers (22%), television (21%) and radio (15%). (more…)
PBS’s MediaShift has published an interesting article by Benjamin Melan?ßon that looks at how Internet media equates to power for non-profit organizations:
Nonprofits are not setting their sights high enough.
Justice-seeking not-for-profit organizations, and all people who are working for change, need to change the environment in which we do our work if we are to be truly effective with our most important projects.
Nonprofits need to form their own media.
These organizations, their supporters, and their constituencies form a critical mass of people and passions.  We are not yet bonded together by much more than working for below-market financial reward (as workers and volunteers), receiving a lot of the same begging mail (as donors), or getting  regular benefit from the kindness of strangers (as constituents, which includes all of us who appreciate common goods like the environment).  We, the actively involved of all these overlapping groups, need to communicate with one another and collaborate on communicating to and with the whole population.
Nonprofits can be key stakeholders in developing and supporting a journalism infused with the direct connecting potential of today’s technology, a journalism that transforms society local community by local community.
Cheap webspace, free software like Wordpress and inexpensive digital gear has pushed the cost of creating Internet media down to where it’s within reach of any organization.
One example of the power this gives you access to is the reaction the Humane Society got from its downed cow video. The Internet video resulted in the recall of 143 millions pounds of meat - the largest recall in history.
Much of the attention in podcasting and new media has moved to “monetizing” content. Don’t lose site of the fact that new media also can equal an amazing amount of power.
The Citizen Media Law Project 
