OMG my first post!

Posted by | Matt Schapiro | January 27, 2009 | 4 Comments

OK, I’m super pumped about starting this blog. Finally an outlet for my thoughts/ideas about the internet! It’s about time.

I think I’ve got a pretty cool perspective about the internet and its possibilities. I feel like I grew up alongside the internet. My first online memories are on Download.com where I could download computer game demos like Madden 95. I remember 8MB seeming HUGE (probably because it took 7 hours on our dial up).

In 5th grade everybody my age downloaded and adopted AOL Instant Messenger. I still remember that sad night in 8th grade when Napster went down – I was downloading a crap load of music at the time! Every year it seemed, computer chips got more powerful, internet connections got faster, and I got… bigger.

So yeah I’d say there’s a pretty close bond between the ol’ internet and myself. Damn bugger followed me to college, Facebook gained popularity my senior year of high school. At that time Facebook was still exclusive to college students (ah, those were the days) so I had to wait until I got into school – and got that college email address. Many schools gave incoming freshman their email information immediately once they were accepted. The obvious first step after getting your school email; create your Facebook page! From there, incoming freshman could “meet” and “friend” each other… even before setting foot on campus! It was not uncommon for incoming freshman to enter school with 100+ “friends” already.

My school, Tufts, didn’t give out emails until the semester started – so we didn’t experience any “online orientation.” This probably wasn’t the reason I bailed on Tufts… I blame the hilly campus. Although now thinking back on it…

So that was a fun tangent. I’ll do that from time to time. When I started I wasn’t exactly sure where this post would go – but I’m not surprised I managed to bring Facebook into it. I’ve been studying/following Facebook for a looooong time. Over the past 4 years I’ve enjoyed watching it change, expand, and violate my privacy. I like to think that I have dirt on Facebook that nobody knows. Of course somebody knows… but not many I bet (look up facemash/peopleradar).

That whole discussion is for another post. Even looking up those sites will just lead to more question marks. Send me $10 paypal and I’ll ship you one of my FACEBOOK STUFF binders I have sitting in my closet. I’ll get back to this eventually… holy tangent again.

If this was an English paper I’d just go back to my thesis to bail me out. So ok. I’m SUPER pumped about this blog. I’m excited to write about stuff that’s been on mind for awhile. While brainstorming about what my first post would be – I created a list of like 20 different kinds of articles I want to write!

On Thursdays, look for my “Video Seeding Tip of the Week.” On Tuesdays I’m going to be highlighting a specific video sharing site like YouTube, DailyMotion, or Break. I plan on analyzing these sites a bunch of different ways:

How large is their audience? What is their demographic?

How are videos seen and shared within their system? How can you promote your video within their network?

I want to compare their advertising inventory and media kits. How are they integrating sponsors/brands?

Maybe I’ll even ask for an interview!!!! (i better get famous first :p)

So where are we… oh yeah… more article concepts. I’m going to throw the spotlight on certain video/social media campaigns. What they did. How they did it. Did it work? Should they have hired SpotZero instead? (not really… but… that kinda makes sense… maybe they should have!). We’ll highlight good campaigns and bad ones – dishing on what sucked, complimenting what worked.

I want to write about the new YouTube celebrities, our favorite industry blogs(pro Mashable), the new WhiteHouse.gov website, and how the new FOX show Lie To Me is all over my internets. Like seriously – I know – Wednesdays at 9. On Fox. Still not going to watch . I’ve never been able to set aside a time every week to sit down and watch a show. Without TiVo/digital recording – I can’t skip through the commercials – and if I miss an episode I’m done. I’ve always preferred to watch a TV series on DVD. No commercials, watch multiple episodes at a time – that’s how its done.

It’s a cool thing we live in 2009. If you missed the first episode, you can watch it instantly on the FOX website. This makes sense. FOX wants people to see the show. FOX streams it from their site. FOX runs pre-roll advertisements and makes some $$. Up until last year, the networks were hesitant to host their latest episodes online. The old thinking – airing your episodes online detracts from people watching it on TV. The fact of the matter – the episodes would make their way online anyways – it would just all be “illegal.” When the networks realized that they needed to host the videos – not only to make some profit from people who are already looking for their content online – but because an online strategy is a great way to introduce people to the show. Rather than catch it at the perfect time on FOX, its available 24/7 on the internets. I might go watch it after all…

I’d love to know the profit differential per 1k viewers – online vs TV. I assume that overall, the online profit is a small fraction of the overall TV profit because of the size of the audiences. Another point, TV viewers are exposed to 7x(eyeball) more advertising than online viewing… but because of the limited online ad inventory – many of these traditional TV advertisers are now fighting over a smaller pie. Ok, all this thinking just made my brain explode. We’ll revisit this…

So in conclusion, back to my thesis of sorts, I’m really excited to start writing… and I hope people find what I have to say useful. I can’t promise it’ll always be flowery and filled with rainbows – but I’ll do my best to make you smile… and think about the internet at the same time.

pz.

Matt

Supercool Creative is an ad agency specializing in online video creative & production, video seeding and integrated social media campaigns. Supercool Creative provides superior production quality, targeted viral marketing and relevant social media campaigns. Contact us: Supercool@Supercoolcreative.com.

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