Regarding online video

In the coming weeks Greg Atkinson (from ChurchVideoIdeas.com) and I are going to do a joint blog post about some new online video editing tools that are available. Since Greg's got the video editing expertise he was kind enough to do this with me. He'll be providing a review of the tools and I'll sit back and enjoy the ride provide application of the tools for churches and ministries.

In the mean time here are a few thoughts regarding online video:

Embed! - One of the biggest advantages to online video today is that it can be embedded into people's blogs, websites, MySpace pages, etc. courtesy of those nifty embed links. If you're going to put video online don't limit people to only viewing it on your own site. Let them grab it and post it themselves. You'll extend your reach exponentially. If you're determined to get people to your site through these videos then put the address on the beginning or end of the video.

Wear it out. - All the old barriers to using online video are down. You can host the video for free, get free bandwidth, get free online video editing tools, and get cheap digital cameras. All you need to do is make the time to do it. If you've been doing video for the church or ministry for a while and you're not putting it online then shame on you. You're missing a great opportunity. If you haven't been capturing video of your church or ministry, just start doing it. Get in the habit and then begin working to sharpen your skills to make remarkable videos.

Let go. - I recently heard someone say they could post embedded video to their site but if they found someone had misused it they could somehow take it down or pull the video back from the misuse. This is 100% false. If you put a video online in any form there are tools that can allow someone to capture it. Once that video has been captured someone can use it for whatever they want to. If you have deep concerns about online video misuse you probably don't need to even dip your toes in these waters. My suggestion is to put video online and let it go...set it free. Let people grab those embed links and post them to their blogs or MySpace pages. Don't let the slight chance that the video could be misused to prevent you from doing it.

Vimeo Makes Video Integration on Blogs a Snap

A friend asked me today to recommend a video hosting website to him to use for a family blog he keeps. The first one I suggested was Vimeo.com because I've heard some good things about it. He reported that it was easy to load the video onto Vimeo but wasn't sure how to get the video onto his Blogger blog. Vimeo provided him with a video embed link and he sent it to me to get onto his blog. At first I wasn't sure how difficult this was going to be because I had a terrible time getting a You Tube video to work for me a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the link Vimeo provided just had to be plugged into Blogger's new post field and it published to the blog without a hitch or glitch. I spent at least 30 minutes the day I tried to get You Tube video on this blog so the 30 seconds it took to get the Vimeo video on my friend's site today was a breeze. I know where I'll go when I have a choice for video from now on. Also, if I ever start a video blog, Vimeo will be my first option to host the video...it was just that easy!

Music Videos 2.0

I saw on Voxacious today that the band, The Shins, just did a novel thing over the weekend for the creation of an upcoming music video. Basically the idea is that people who were at the show could film it and then upload the video according to some instructions posted on MySpace and the band was going to use the fan-generated film to create music videos for their upcoming album.

This is a great example of user-generated content in an offline kind of way. Kudos to the band or whoever thought this up. Not only will they get the raw footage for their own videos but this same film will soon find its way on YouTube, MySpace, and numerous other social media and social networking sites to spread it even further.