Innovative Consumer Services and YouTube: KISS
John Dvorak isn't "Missing the point about YouTube." It's still a big fat Kiss, that's "Keep It Simple, Stupid". He makes a great point that while people focus on the non-existent business model, it's still way too early in the game to worry about that. The real question is why YouTube exploded and Google didn't.
His answer – basic ease of use and convenience. The lesson here is that there will always be opportunities for consumer services to out-innovate the big boys … as long as they are 100% focused on the customer experience.
Dvorak writes about YouTube:
You can sign up quickly and upload anything in any format right away. YouTube's computers then transcode (convert) your files into Flash movies which can be played on any browser. They also provide a link to the video which you can email as well as some embedded code so you can post the video on your own website and play it from there.
I have seriously looked at the alternatives to YouTube. With no exceptions they are all flawed. … Some sites require endless forms to fill out. Others, such as copycat newcomer Metacafe which cannot even transcode the ubiquitous MOV file, are useless for personal digital cam vids. Other sites have weird limitations or do not provide embedding code. It's one thing or another. One of the community video sites for "citizen journalists" wants the hapless user to transcode the video themselves before uploading it. Most people don't have a clue how to do that. Even Google can't get it right.
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