It’s finally here…for the longest real conversations were not possible on YouTube like on other social sites like Facebook & Twitter. Not anymore!! YouTube is offering the ability to use Google Moderator in every YouTube channel.  What does Google Moderator do? It allows YouTube channel creators the ability to connect with their subscribers.

Now you can ask for feedback, share ideas for new videos and ask questions.  You can vote for best comments, ideas and questions….so true conversations are in. You can check out Google Moderator in action on The New York Times channel.

How to enable this for your channel? Very simple, click on “My Channels” then “Modules” tab and check the “Moderator” box and you are all set.

So do you think that real time interactions change the future of YouTube?

I can’t even believe that it’s been only 5 years for YouTube. For me, it seems like this phenomenon has been for much much longer. Anyway, website monitoring has compiled some interesting facts and milestones during this 5 year journey from ZERO hits to more than TWO BILLION hits a day.

A much awaited feature from YouTube is finally here – videos that  can be shared ONLY with friends/family.  A new feature called “unlisted” videos is available for all YouTubers that allows themto share by sending link to the video. YouTube Help Center has more information and you can also read the post on the YouTube blog.

YouTube Privacy

There have been embarrassing videos that I wanted to share with friends only and now I have the option. On the flip side, it might affect the viral value of some videos….what do you think?

Small Talk (YouTube, Toyota & Presented by Ryan Seacrest)  is looking for new kid videos and giving away $10,000 as prize money. Parents have to create  a video of your child answering one the questions listed below:

1.  How much does a car cost?
2.  What do you like to do when riding in mom or dad’s car?
3.  Where do you want to go on the next family vacation?
4.  Who’s a better driver—mommy or daddy?
5.  What do mommy & daddy do when they go out without you?
6.  What’s your favorite part of a car?
7.  What’s the strangest thing mommy or daddy have put in your car?
8.  Have your mommy or daddy ever said something that wasn’t true?
9.  What’s the best thing about a car trip?
10. Where is the most fun place mommy or daddy have taken you in your car?

Last Date: June 20th; so what are you waiting for get your cams and start shooting!!!

Social media sites are becoming more and more popular each year. Don’t believe me……then read along.

The journey on social media started late 1990s and early 2000s but in the last few years, it has really caught up. Let’s check a few stats that would make it interesting. In in 2008 ( informations do not include December 2008). The most popular social media video site was Blogger (222 million), Facebook (200 million), MySpace (126 million), WordPress (114 million).

End of 2009, Facebook has more than 350 million active users, 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day, more than 35 million users update their status each day.

Popularity of Twitter is also growing.

In 2008 there were  6 million (3.8% of all adult internet users), in 2009 : 18 million (11.1%), and for the year 2010 it’s predicted that there will be 26 million (15.5%) users.

Then there is YouTube which had 13 % of increase in views of videos to year 2007.It definitely dominated the market in the number of videos and number of visitors. In November 2009, 128.1 million viewers watched more than 12 billion videos on YouTube.com (94.3 videos per viewer).

The best month for video industry was December 2008, when, according to the research done by ComScore, videos were watched by over 30milion users, clips were watched by 4 billion times.

In November 2009 -

Google Sites had 129 million unique viewers ,

Yahoo Sites were on the second place with more than 55 million viewers (8.5 videos per viewer),

Fox Interactive Media with 50 million viewers (8.9 videos per viewer)),

Viacom Digital,Microsoft Sites, Time Warner-Excl AOL, AOL LLC, Disney Online, ESPN and CBS Corporation.

From video ad networks, in November 2009,Tremor Media,.took the first place  with a potential reach of 85 million viewers,  (49.8 percent of the total viewing audience). Advertising.com Video Network was on the  second place with a potential reach of 80 million viewers (47.1 percent ), third is YuMe Video Network with 73 million viewers (43.0 percent).Other notable findings from November 2009 include:

Here are some more statistical informations from ComScore for November 2008:.

The average online video viewer watched 12.2 hours of video.

• 38.6 million viewers watched 333.4 million videos on MySpace.com (8.6 videos per viewer).
• The average Hulu viewer watched 21.1 videos, totaling 2.1 hours of videos per viewer.
• The duration of the average online video was 4.0 minutes.

So, as statistics shows ,  importance of social media and their popularity, not just for entertainment but also for business purposes, is constantly growing and this tendency will inevitably continue.

So, what are you thinking  join the bandwagon.