Just thoughts …

Category: Blogposts

  • Google and video-sharing – something in the air?

    Google and video-sharing – something in the air?

    YouTube LogoA couple of recent posts on Google+ from @MrSimonWood have got me to thinking. He first highlighted that YouTube was highlighting an Import from Google+ option which raised some concerns in his mind that Google+ Photos was about to be denuded of videos which he felt would be unfortunate because of the highly granular security model of Google+ which also prevented re-shares of videos hosted on Google+ Photos. The second was a subtle change in YouTube which affected those wishing to monetize their channels.

    There are obviously changes in the air at Google as I’ve been posting over the past couple of days. Are those changes going to include a separation of photos from videos? From their point of view it might just make a lot of sense. In the video-serving world there are really only two front runners – YouTube and Vimeo. The latter doesn’t do photographs, it just concentrates on producing the best streaming of videos it can, and it succeeds in that. For Google it’s hosted videos are presented differently, depending on the platform – YouTube or Photos. Note I’ve dropped the Google+, they have! If they want to concentrate on providing the best possible platforms for both photos to compete with the SmugMug, 500px, even flickr of this world, it makes sense to not complicate things by having videos on the same platform. Similarly, if they wanted to consider enhancing their video-editing capability which is currently a bit underwhelming on YouTube then they wouldn’t want videos being hosted on different platforms. So I think Simon’s right. A change is in the air. What’s to be done about it.

    Well first-of-all we perhaps need to take the Import to YouTube option first announced in August 2014 a little more seriously. One could wait for the inevitable that I’ve predicted above, or wait for the migration that Google will do for us. It’s up to you but I’m reasonably confident that Google will not lessen the privacy settings in an automated move, but will you still retain the shares you’ve created?

    So … I tested an Import from Google+ on YouTube and after import it retains a Privacy of Unlisted (not Public, or Private) which is correct because I’d shared the video on Google+, but no details of who I’d shared it with are transferred across, meaning the link between the video and the Google+ Circle had been broken. This therefore means that Google has some work to do if they do want to move all content off the Photos platform; or will they be tolerant of leaving  some legacy videos on the Photos platform, or might they just break the Google+ service. Which way do you think they would be most likely to go?

    It’s probable that Google will most likely want you to share from the YouTube Capture App on your smartphone, or from the browser. It is also sensible to assume (as suggested above) that they will enhance the video-editing capabilities linked to YouTube maybe with a standalone application somewhat similar to Picasa (or Snapseed) for Photos. They could do that by forking uploads from smartphones and cameras into the two platforms. This could be done transparently, but I would imagine there’s quite a bit of engineering to be done in achieving that to get a seamless and nice solution.

    Who knows. I’m just speculating. What I do know is that following Simon’s second post highlighting the reduced level of security provided by YouTube that I need to put my thinking hat on YET AGAIN, on where to host videos.

  • IT @ 93 – my mother

    My 93 year old mother lives nearly three hours away from me, and not much less away from my sister. About 10 years ago I persuaded her to get a laptop, with a printer, and she soon took to emailing friends and family and looking at the photos we shared with her. In her youth she had used a typewriter and those skills very quickly came back.
    With the arrival of the first tablets I soon realised that here was a device that she could adopt as her ability to type declined as her arthritis limited her dexterity. She’s now on her second iPad. It’s been a godsend. As well as her email which she still uses regularly, she uses the social network Google+ to chat with her grandchildren, and watch the progress through videos of her great grandchildren. She plays online scrabble with a grandson in Australia, and others as well and she occasionally wins – which gives her a huge amount of pleasure – as does the occasional Facetime (video call – skype-like) session she has with us.
    She also reads the news off the web and browses the internet using Google. Just recently she took her first photograph using the iPad and shared it with the family. All of this in a safe and secure IT environment with privacy ensured so that only the family share in these communications.
    The iPad has kept her in touch with her family. She passionately advocates its use and adoption to her friends as a way of them keeping in touch with their relatives and with her. It’s become an essential part of our “care package” for her.