Comments on: Yahoo debuts ‘You Witness News’

By: MOJO

MOJO — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:32:35 +0000

Wow, thanks for the excellent information!

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By: Echy

Echy — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:36:25 +0000

Cory,

Sure I would want people to see it. But why should I give it to a media company who is using it to generate revenue I will never see. You are always going to have some people who don’t mind giving it away for the thrill of “seeing their stuff on TV.” I am not one of them and neither is Joe. And there are alot of others like us. You don’t expect me to believe that if took the time to produce a quality five minute movie, you would give it to Rupert Murdock for free.

Now if you have a model that gets me paid (and not the lame $200 Current.TV is doling out) I might get interested. I mean even Readers Digest pays for stories.

By: Cory

Cory — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:27:29 +0000

Echy, but if you capture something extremely cool on tape, edit it your own way, don’t you want a bunch of people to see it? YouTube or Yahoo can get you the views. If you submit it to a TV site, it may appear on TV. For some people, getting appreciated for their work is important, and many times recognition is just important as $$$.

Plus, not everyone is tech savvy enough to figure out how to post video online and share it with friends, and that’s where YouTube has come in with free hosting.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:40:33 +0000

Another flop. Yes, a few people might want to contribute photos and videos, but why would they want to use Yahoo instead of their own blogs and flikr accounts? It’s giving away their intellectual property for a pittance. Media giants are LAME.

By: Echy

Echy — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:44:46 +0000

If I produce a video, post it to YouTube, and it it picked up by a TV network how does that empower me? It doesn’t. Why don’t CBS, Paramount,or Disney feel empowered by their shows being freely distributed on the Internet? Because they don’t make any money that way.

The constitution is what empowers me to make and distribute a video. The Internet makes it easier. But if I give it to YouTube or Yahoo or someone else for free, I have nothing.

By: Sandi

Sandi — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:47:50 +0000

I think we are missing the point here. It’s not about “giving away” content or about payment - it’s really about viewers wanting to program their own viewing which means, among other things, contributing things they think are interesting. User-generated content is about empowerment and TV has been missing that boat for the last few years.

By: GT

GT — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 22:30:19 +0000

Do we think this may explain a lot of why the Yahoo and CurrentTV partnership was broken? Seems almost like the Current model: no pay unless it gets picked up.

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:50:27 +0000

I think there’s a little time left due to stations’ promotional platform. It’s still highly effective, but not for long. I’ll give it another 12-18 months for local TV to get competitive in key niches online, including user video, or they’ll hand it over for good to the pure plays.

By: thedetroitchannel

thedetroitchannel — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:49:02 +0000

cory, that’s the same tired argument “TV” has used for the past 5-10 years. instead of fostering this sort of interactivity all along (viewer emails when the net was mainly text-based even) they have been relying on “magic”. the curtain is pulled back. time is not on the magician’s side anymore.

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:17:11 +0000

This is the advantage that TV has. While people will grow weary of donating content to sites, I think they’ll still get jazzed about seeing their video and photos on TV.

At KING5.com last week, with the snow storm, we received over 2,000 photos from users and counting. We aired many of them, and the Ellen Show even aired one of them, which jazzed people up even more.

There’s still a magic about TV.

By: Z

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:49:53 +0000

Let’s not forget that the audience is also lazy.

If there’s a viable payment plan for submitters, it might work out. But it’s gotta be pretty good if you’re going to get many people to send anything.

By: thedetroitchannel

thedetroitchannel — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:21:24 +0000

it plays on the same premise that broadcast executives has used for many years: the audience is dumb.

By: Echy

Echy — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:36:17 +0000

I don’t understand why people give their content away for free. Giving content to Yahoo and YouTube just doesn’t make any sense. These companies are trying to make money from donations.Can anyone explain this?