Small Business Video Channel
Over at Magnify.net, I’ve set up a channel for small business video.
Magnify.net is a site that allows you to gather video clips from across the Web and organize them into your own video channel.
That way you can assemble a collection of video around a specific interest — in my case, small business.
There are three ways for video clips to be included in the channel:
- The channel owner can manually upload video clips whenever he or she runs into them across the Web.
- Magnify automatically gathers video clips from major video sites such as YouTube, Yahoo Video and Blip.tv that are tagged with related keywords. The video clips are held in moderation until the channel owner has a chance to review and approve them. Searches for new video clips can be scheduled to take place daily or weekly, to continuously add fresh content.
- Visitors to the site can upload their own video from their hard drives. Magnify will host them. Or you can submit links to videos already hosted somewhere on the Web such as YouTube. Either way, you as the visitor can request to place relevant video into the channel.
As the channel owner I can tailor the look of the channel — for instance, adding in a logo and changing the colors. It’s even possible to add in other non-video content, such as RSS feeds of blog posts.
Since I want a quality channel I am reviewing all the clips and eliminating those that are too commercial and lack sufficient useful or educational content. It is an ongoing process, as I review just a few a day.
If you have a video of interest to small business owners, I encourage you to submit it. Consider it another place on the Web for your video clip to be seen.
Also feel free to write a review of any video clips already there. That way I can eliminate any that are not worthwhile and bring in more clips like ones that are highly rated.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:02 am
[...] Small Business Video ChannelSmall Business Video Channel Over at Magnify.net, I’ve set up a channel for small business video. Magnify.net is a site that allows you gather video clips from across the Web and organize them into your own video channel. … [...]
August 12th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Kudos on taking the initiative of doing this, Anita.
It’s good to be able to come to the one video site that’s just for small business.
One thing: don’t fall for the quantity trap - I’d prefer to see less videos, but ones of much higher quality content - hence why I expect your editorial expertize should make this a success.
August 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Hi Martin, yes, you are absolutely right. Quality is the name of the game, not quantity.
For instance, I like YouTube, but as a user it takes so long to filter through unrelated poor-content videos to find anything relevant.
I’m hoping to develop a collection of small business videos on Magnify.net that I can refer back to quickly and share. I’d also love for others to feel free to submit their own videos on small biz related topics.
Anita
August 12th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Good post Anita, it looks quite interesting and I’m definitely going to take a look at it.
August 12th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Great idea, quality is the issue. Video is easy to produce. Creating quality video requires much more time than a traditional video podcast.
I scanned all videos, one caught my eye and its facts were all wrong re: failure rate of business.
How are the videos sourced? Are they automatically pulled from other networks or do you select them one at a time? I assume the former as I cannot imagine you would approve many of those videos.
No one is served when inaccurate information is promoted, except perhaps the advertisers and site owner who makes money from advertising. I tried to upload my own videos but there was nowhere to join other than create my own channel, I ditched the idea as I did not want to post it as “anonymous”.
Rant: Why does everyone launch web 2.0 applications with Beta versions instead of finishing it with full, well thought out features!
Personally, ustream.tv has a much better service, quality is better, plus they actually have a business model that makes sense. They plan to roll out PPV and Subscription video options down the road.
IMHO, magnify.net is poorly executed.
Thanks for testing this out for us Anita.
August 12th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I meant to say “Creating quality video requires much more time than a traditional *audio* podcast.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Hi Greg, thanks for your comments.
I chose to have Magnify.net pull videos from YouTube, Yahoo Video, Blip.tv and other sources. In two cases I submitted the links to video I had come across on the Web.
I started out with over 300 videos, and have whittled it down by two-thirds. And I continue to whittle it down to select videos as I have time here and there. (One thing I have discovered: there is a seemingly endless supply of multi-level marketing videos online!)
Magnify and ustream seem to me to be two very different types of sites. Magnify is really a way to collect already existing video and organize it. More like a Delicious type of bookmarking service but with a lot more bells and whistles. Ustream, on the other hand, looks to me like a place where you can host a streaming video show of your own. It’s hard to compare the two. I personally do not create video, so the only value I would get out of a ustream is as a source for video clips to put in my Magnify page.
Finally, have you watched some of the streaming videos on ustream? They’re fascinatingly boring. One of them that is live and on the air right now just shows an empty bed. Another shows someone flipping a notebook on her desk. Like Twitter but with even more trivial minutiae of life….
Thanks again, Greg. Do please upload some of your videos. I’d love to have them.
Anita
August 13th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Oh! It seems good site such as business videos free b2b btob http://www.cycbiz.com, is it for business not for recreation videos right? is it free or charge? Thanks!
August 13th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Thats sound interesting and useful for our sites.I”ll add it.