Zoom-in Online

Found a link to this MediaPost article over at Publishing 2.0:

IN A FINDING THAT UNDERSCORES the potential of a vast, untapped market for user-generated video, new research conducted by interactive agency Sharpe Partners indicates that more than half (54) percent of adult Internet users currently create their own video offline, but only 11 percent actually upload it to the Internet. That margin, says Sharpe, represents a significant opportunity for software and system providers to help facilitate the migration of a burgeoning consumer generated video marketplace online

One of the chief reasons for the disparity between producing and posting video is the difficulty consumers said they have with the process. The study, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive, surveyed 2,125 U.S. adults between June 29 and July 2, and found that more than two-thirds of those who create their own video found it difficult to edit their content due to the lack of consumer-friendly software.

Oh if only a company would make some products that explain editing in an easy to understand way....

Seriously though, i dont think many people really think of finishing a piece of video for publishing. I have almost never been shown an edited video at a family event, but i have seen dozens of unedited video tapes (and the occasional DVD). The editing typically takes place real time as the presenter fast forwards, rewinds and generally cues up the good stuff. This is why I like the concepts put forth by companies like Motionbox - just upload the clip, then tag or edit down the good stuff right online.

But this still leaves the hurdle of getting the video into digital format - something that seems to a big stumbling block. Yeah, yeah, some of you cool kids are shooting MP4 video right on some fancy hard drive camera, but we aren't talking about you, we're talking about folks with a mini-DV camera they got a few years ago who just realized they can plug that thing into their computer and control it enough to capture video. Either they dont have enough drive space to capture their opus, or not enough patience for the realtime capture (favorite line ever uttered by a friend, "I was there when I shot the footage, no way i want to go back and watch it all over again!"

So what's the way forward here? It's already happening - clips from cell phones are making there way online much faster than any tape based media could (much to Michael Richard's dismay). YouTube launched the ability to upload video from your cellphone this past May and its only a matter of time before more sites begin offering this ability.