Because geek is cool and clever

It’s TV – but not as we know it October 31, 2007

Google’s recent acquisition of the mega-popular YouTube raises some interesting hypothesis for the future of online video sharing.

If you’re one of the four people left in the country who has never heard of YouTube, it’s a site that allows its users to upload their video clips for all the world to see.

Usually described – incorrectly in my view – as a sort of global ‘You’ve Been Framed’, the site plays host to millions of clips ranging from a few seconds up to feature length videos.

And it’s certainly addictive. Browsing YouTube reminds me very much of the early days of the web, when I would go online to seek out one thing and then find myself hours later off on the widest of tangents, having completely forgotten my original intention.

YouTube cleverly displays what it considers to be clips of similar content to the one you are currently viewing, ensuring an endless trail of breadcrumbs to follow.

Far more than simply short videos of teenage Americans miming to their favourite pop song, as it is most commonly described, YouTube is a rich library of many notable things shot to film over the past few decades and it provides an easy and free platform for would-be documentary makers to have their work seen.

I believe it is for this reason that Google considered the $1.65bn takeover to be good value for money.

Broadband internet connections make it feasible to deliver TV quality video and movies online, instantly making the medium available to the woman on the street and not just wealthy corporations like the BBC or Sky.

Today, with some cheap, consumer-level video equipment and a popular idea, anybody could make a ‘TV’ programme and distribute it globally for effectively no cost.

It’s a massive revolution and it’s happening right now.

Other companies are also seeing the potential in IPTV (Internet Protocol Television).

One of the best examples of this new broadcasting medium is Revision3, a company that produces an ever increasing portfolio of interesting and professional quality free programming with subjects ranging from cookery to technology news. All shows can be subscribed to via the iTunes Store ensuring automated delivery as soon as they’re available.

Forget a few extra channels being available on Freeview. The internet has the potential to offer unlimited content.