More stats, now to satisfy your curiosity about the visitors heading to some of the biggest websites out there.
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/website-showdown-twitter-infographic_b11727#more-11727
Contributed by Scott Shue
All you need is a wireless network to hook up your smartphone and watch YouTube videos in this cool, pop up outdoor theatre. Plus the structure itself kind of resembles a jungle gym.
Via Fast Co. Design
View and interact with YouTube videos in a dynamic new way — just choose six different YouTube videos, copy the URLs onto http://youcub.es to build your cube, and then use your mouse to move it around in 3D space. Each of the videos plays simultaneously, the volume fading in and out as it spins.
Then share your customized cube, or browse other cool ones people have made!
Via Aaron Meyers
Clever game site from B-Reel takes you through different online worlds.
Great execution on a nice idea.
http://pleasurehunt.mymagnum.com
Contributed by Caio Lazzuri
It always stands out when a brand actually finds an interactive way to interact with their audience. I think this one works because it’s such a simple idea, that you almost feel like you’re acting in the video. There’s nothing to click, nothing to drag or drop, just a simple action of touching your screen. There’s something that we miss online, that we used to have with print ads where when we held the tactile ad it brought us closer to the brand. This is a new approach to “touching the brand.” I’ve seen a few people pull their hand back once the ad is down and say, “ew!” with a smile. That’s what makes it great. Simple advertising, playing off the brands tag line. It’s no wonder this has gone viral so quickly!
Contributed by Lindsay Siegel
via mashable
On July 24, 2010, YouTube invited people from all over the world to capture glimpses of their lives on camera and upload them to YouTube. The resulting Life in a Day project, directed by Kevin MacDonald and produced by Ridley Scott, weaves together about 1,000 snapshots of people’s lives — out of over 80,000 total submissions — to create a completely user-generated and powerful documentary of daily life.
Tonight the 90-min feature film premieres at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and streams live on YouTube simultaneously (8 p.m. EST). Google Creative Labs also developed a massive touch screen installation featuring all of the videos, including the thousands not shown in the film, that’s currently on display at Sundance in Park City, Utah.
Via YouTube
YouTube recently launched a two-day test of it’s upcoming Live Streaming services. The company has confirmed that it plans to eventually offer live streaming to all of its content partners. Live streams will only be available on YouTube proper (you can’t embed it in widgets yet) and the footage won’t be archived.
via TechCrunch
Tipp-Ex, a European correction fluid (aka white-out) brings YouTube to life in a very interesting way by allowing the viewer to choose their own outcome.
The actor in the video also interacts with a banner on the brand channel page which is very cool.
It’s like choose your own adventure meets YouTube meets Subservient Chicken.
EpicWin is a new iPhone app that transforms mundane tasks into an immersive role playing game.
Interesting to see the badges model being used to motivate useful activities. The app is scheduled to be released on the 19th, but you can get the latest updates from the EpicWin twitter.
A lot of pop musician’s videos are being shown on Youtube via a video player from a company called Vevo. Vevo gives label artists an opportunity to deliver more engaging, higher quality content than a normal Youtube video would allow. For example, Vevo has been used to deliver live concerts by The National and others.
Not only does this increase the fan experience, it creates a more polished environment that Vevo hopes will bring in ad dollars:
One of the reasons cited for the launch of Vevo is the competition that music videos have in the form of YouTube. Warner Music Group apparently removed its content from YouTube in March 2009 for this reason, but is said to be considering hosting its content on Vevo. The concept for the site is described as being a Hulu for music videos, with the goal being to attract more high-end advertisers. It is believed that some advertisers are ambivalent to hosting advertising on the YouTube site alongside user-generated video.
(via Wikipedia)
Vevo streams pre-roll before every music video it plays; a great opportunity to target media at a specific fan base. (Just think of all the tweens who love Justin Beiber!)