Chocolate Rain, Auto-Tune the News, and most recently Rebecca Black are all now common household names due to the instant fame given to anyone who can use a webcam, record a video and upload it to YouTube. In a recent interview regarding the history of video, Bob McCandless, CEO of BrightCom believes that YouTube stars have created a new world in which younger generations expect both live and recorded video technology to be a part of their daily lives, a concept he also believes that businesses should adopt through recorded video conferencing content.
“The biggest impact from YouTube is really a cultural impact,” states Mr. McCandless. “One of the things we spoke about last time was the phobia of being on video especially during an instant or desktop video conferencing meeting. I think that this is the case for older generations, mine included. I think younger people are growing up in an environment where they can record themselves every day and upload that content to YouTube for the whole world to see and they become quite famous for doing so.”
Mr. McCandless explains that the young man with the YouTube username NigaHiga is getting between 1 million and 9 million views on each one of his videos, demonstrates the phenomenon.
Because of cultural impact, Mr. McCandless feels that YouTube allows younger generations to be much more comfortable on camera. He believes that his generation or those older did not want to share private or personal information. Ultimately new generations of YouTubers prime younger people to accept and expect video conferencing communications.
“The change that YouTube has introduced is a familiarity and friendliness with the camera. This translates into the younger generation expecting to be on video or having it as a major medium of communication. As you grow into a world where you expect to be on video, your concept of self-image, privacy, broadcasting, sharing on Facebook becomes very different and transparent. Younger generations will expect videophones, desktop conferencing and home conferencing,” stated Mr. McCandless.
But is the major difference between recorded video on YouTube and live video conferencing a limitation for younger generations to adopt this mode of communication? Mr. McCandless believes whether it is live or recorded, younger people will continue to use video on the Internet and will expect video conferencing and telepresence to become much more of a recorded medium of communication in the future.
“I think video conferencing will become much more recorded than it is today, said Mr. McCandless. “My expectation is that you will be able to store everything you do on video, and categorize it. Much of the way you search on Google and find YouTube videos, you should be able to do in a business context and search for a business subject and find information through video conferences and other stored media.”
Most vendors, like BrightCom, currently provide recorded streaming media applications that add on to their telepresence and video conferencing solutions. These applications allow people to pause the live meeting and start it again where they left off as well as record the entire length of the meeting or presentation for archiving purposes.
Mr. McCandless is featured in a continuing video series entitled, Telepresence and Video Conferencing: Past, Present and Future. Stay tuned for the last discussion on the history of telepresence as Mr. McCandless discusses the first business and consumer video technology products in the 1990s.
For more information about telepresence and video conferencing, please contact BrightCom at 877-483-9737 or visit BrightCom online at www.brightcom.com.
