You hear it all the time. YouTube serves up hundreds of millions of videos per day. Video blogs are more popular than ever. And mainstream TV, with it’s so-called reality junk food shows like Jersey Shore, and endless reruns of Jerry Springer, is becoming redundant, is often repulsive, and ultimately will be rendered obsolete within a matter of a few years.

Not so fast. TV isn’t going anywhere.

Yes, the Web has brought about a revolution in the way people consume video. Filmmakers are taking to the Internet to promote, release, and sell their feature films. Indeed, lots of people nowadays spend far more time getting their news and information from the Internet and far less time watching their 6pm local newscast.

Just 8 years ago, I can remember struggling to post videos online – the file sizes were immense, the quality was poor, and the pipe simply wasn’t big enough to handle the amount of data that video created. We’ve come far in a very short amount of time. Online video truly is a revolution, but it’s not a replacement for television. Not at all. And here’s why:

Convergence is Here

A few years ago, convergence was the big buzzword. All the major media folk were talking about how mainstream TV was going to merge with the Web and what a threat that would be to the industry. They predicted that within 2 or 3 years we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what we were watching online and what we were watching on our 60″ plasma. Nobody would have to watch ads anymore and television as we know it would be dead on the table.

Well that hasn’t exactly happened. While it’s true you can watch YouTube videos on your big screen now, and tools like Netflix and AppleTV are bridging the gap between traditional consumption of media and Web-delivered media, there’s still a big distinction with conventional, ad-driven television, and the cable companies and media moguls like it that way.

With that said, though, there’s a different kind of convergence happening with television – and it’s one that I like a lot. You see, one of the things the media empires didn’t bank on was social media. They didn’t guess that within 5 years of their convergence debates, the floodgates of anyone, anywhere, anytime publishing would open wide.

Social TV

Television merged with social media is a whole different beast. It’s not TV online. It’s TV inline. We are still watching our favourite shows, commercials and all, and why? Because our friends are watching them too. Just look at what FourSquare was able to do with the SuperBowl. Or what the Vancouver Olympics achieved, with real-time commentary and conversation via Twitter. And look at the Oscars - same thing via multiple streams – blogs, Facebook and Twitter played a huge role in that event. The real time stream of conversation means I can watch television now with 100 million of my closest friends. It’s like a virtual bowl of popcorn, that we’re all able to dip our hands into while we gather around our respective boob tubes.

But it doesn’t even take a major network event to see the real benefits of the social channel when it comes to TV watching. Check out the cast and crew of the best sitcom on TV, The Big Bang Theory who are on Twitter. Every week, not only do we see photos of the cast rehearsing posted, but we get to sit down with the cast, crew and fans at 8pm ET every week and watch the show with them. We can follow the conversation in real time. We can laugh together, and post our favourite quotes. No longer do we have to wait to relive the episode at the water cooler tomorrow. The water cooler is online now.

And in the spirit of merging social with the show, Anthony Bourdain, beloved host of the hit travel/food show “No Reservations”, has hijacked his own Twitter account (it used to be run by his “people”) and the other night, live-tweeted the entire episode of his show in real time as it was airing. His witty and often crass sense of humour, and comical banter with other viewers, was not only wildly entertaining, it made me realize one very important point that will please every broadcaster in the world. 90% of people who PVR shows skip through the commercials. But if the host of the show is conversing with fans WHILE the show is running – people will be far more inclined to watch the show when it airs…and that includes the commercials. Can you say #winning?

This, my friends, is the future of television. It’s not going to be some hybrid mashup of laughing babies, William Shatner and Kenny from South Park. It’s going to be real people, in real time, really experiencing all that television still has to offer.

So don’t you worry, TV. You were my first love, and you will remain that way.

[photo credit: hellabella on Flickr]

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It was nearly 4 years ago when I took my first baby steps into the world of social media. Before that blustery February day in Toronto, I didn’t really even know any of this existed. Oh sure, I’d been around the Interwebz for several years – but it had been mostly work-related, in the high tech sector, working on internal web sites. I lived on the Web, but till then, the Web, for me, mostly existed inside a bubble.

When I first started blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing and the like, I did it out of pure enjoyment. I was meeting some great people, making amazing friends. Blogging was exercise for me – I did it for the love of writing, the therapy of writing my thoughts down. I didn’t care if anyone read them. I was grateful when they did. I was surprised when they left a comment.

I used Twitter for the purely social aspects – I was meeting new people this way, at a time in my life when it was needed. Several of my close friends had recently moved away, and other friendships had simply ended for one reason or another. With Twitter, I discovered this whole network of new people to get to know, and get to know them, I did. What was most surprising to me was how many people in my own city I was able to meet this way – people like Stacey, and Joe, and Tom and Tracey, and Bob – and how many of these people I now consider close friends.

Facebook was a school reunion for me. People I never thought I’d hear from again were now poking me and sending me messages. I loved seeing what had become of my high school crush, or my best friend from 5th grade, or that girl I went to TV school with. Now that I’m reconnected with these people, my life goes on, and so does theirs – but it’s nice to know they are still here.

As a video nerd, YouTube seemed to me like the Holy Grail. The fact that anyone with 5 minutes and a video camera could now tell stories this way astounded me. I loved seeing the creative things people would come up with. I would spend hours on YouTube scanning through videos looking for hidden gems. It became my TV time.

I think if I asked you, you’d probably have some similar stories, especially if you came into this social media thing in the early days like I did. Creative expression, making new friends, and sharing stories was the driving force behind many peoples’ social media efforts back then.

But somewhere along the way, it all changed.

Once the world started to grab onto the fact that social media could be used to market and sell stuff, the focus shifted. We started blogging just to drive more traffic to our sites. We decided that tweeting about our stuff was more important than making friends. We set up Facebook pages to advertise our companies and products, and abandoned our high school buddies for more lucrative territory. We started to spend more time figuring out how to drive ROI and less time just saying “hi”.

Social media has become social marketing, and I don’t think that is such a good thing.

I know that this stuff works to build business – most of the new business in the doors of our company last year came from Twitter. That’s not a lie. But it wasn’t because I was tweeting up a storm telling the world to hire Jester Creative for their next web or video project. Nope. It was because I was blogging for fun, Twittering to make friends, and Facebooking to hang out with my school chums.

Nowadays, I advise people on ways to improve their online presence. I help them create better content, and tell better stories, to help them build trust and relationships and integrity online. I don’t teach people how to Tweet. I don’t train them on how to set up Facebook pages. I teach people how to tell their stories. It’s not unlike what I’ve done all along out here myself, really. I am grateful to be able to teach others what I’ve learned, and I owe a lot to those of you who have taught me.

We’re so caught up in click throughs and traffic and ROI nowadays. We go on and on about tactics and strategies that will get more people to come to our sites. If you’re in business, these are all good goals.

But what if, for just a while, you took a step back. What if your next blog post (or your next three) were just written from the heart, because you want to express your thoughts, without worrying about who was going to read it or retweet it or comment? What if you just spent some time hanging out on Twitter being silly? What if you DID talk about what you’re having for lunch today? What if you sent your high school crush a note just to say hi or happy birthday? What if you forgot for a while that you were out here to market yourself or your business?

I’m willing to bet that, not only will you have a better time, but you’ll have better results.

[photo credit steven depolo on Flickr]

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Last week was a quiet class for me. My students were out doing video shoots for their latest assignment, so there were just a few people hanging around, working on editing and so on. One of my students approached and sat down to ask a few questions. Nothing out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later, he struck up an interesting conversation. He said, “Nobody talks here.”

I asked what he meant. He explained that, since moving to Canada, he’s noticed that people don’t talk to each other. Standing at bus stops, waiting in line, it’s just a bunch of people, not talking. They might be fidgeting with their mobile device, plugged into their earbuds, or staring off into space, deep in their own thoughts, but they are not in any way connected to the people and things around them.

He’s absolutely right.

I’ve noticed this before too, especially since I’ve been a city dweller. Growing up in small towns, if you didn’t talk to everyone around you there was a problem. But in the city, it’s different. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. We don’t talk. We won’t talk.

Hide and Seek. We won’t talk to the people right in front of our eyes. Therefore, does it strike you as a bit strange that we are so willing to extend our hand in the online world and talk to just about anyone? There’s some weird social disconnects at play here. If you’re the guy who wants to strike up a conversation with everyone at the bus stop, people often see that as odd behaviour. But if you’re the gal who wants to chat with everyone on Facebook, then you’re a social butterfly. We stand in line at the grocery store, afraid to talk to the stranger behind us, but we bury ourselves in our iPhones instead, talking up a storm with 5000 of our closest”friends” on Twitter.

Step Away From the Device. We rave on and on about how social media has done so much to bring us together. It’s a worldwide conversation! It’s changed the way we communicate! I think in some ways, social media has merely given us tools to hide behind. For some people, especially the shyer ones, social media does make it easier to extend their hand and say hello. But, imagine, if we just took the time to look up from our BlackBerrys once in a while and say hello to the person standing next to us. Imagine how we might be brought together then.

Here is my challenge to you. At least once this week, as you go about your day, take the time to strike up a conversation with a stranger, in person. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be real. Don’t worry if people think you’re weird. I learned from my student that, in other cultures, you’re weird if you don’t talk to people! The philosophy is, we’re all here, in this moment, sharing whatever experience, good or bad. We might as well say hi, right? There’s a lot of wisdom in those words.

So stop. Put down your mobile device. Look around you. Smile. Say hello to whoever is there. You just never know what might happen.

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Note: I’m coming at this from the perspective of a College teacher, where my students are adults. I know there is fierce debate over teachers connecting on Facebook with high school or younger students. I’m not an expert on K-12 education, and can only speak from my own experience in adult education.

This semester, I have about 75 students (about 36 in each of two classes). I get them for 11 weeks.

The first day I go into a new class, I’ve got a whole group of new people I need get to know very quickly. In order to be effective as their teacher, I need to know some things about each of them – how they learn best, how they are motivated, and any issues or difficulties they might have. They have the expectation of me that I’m going to be able to understand what they need. That’s a big challenge, with so many new people to get to know in a very short amount of time.

Unfortunately, what happens in many situations like mine, is that the more outgoing students tend to get more face time in class, and the quieter ones sometimes have difficulty getting involved. It’s an ongoing battle to ensure that everyone is given the time and attention they need to be set up for success.

Social media changes this. You see, the very nature of connecting online allows you to expedite the process of getting to know someone. By extending your connections with students into the online social world, you can find out all sorts of things that can give you insight into what makes your students tick.

In my 1st year video production class tonight, I encouraged my students to connect with me on Skype, and through Twitter and Facebook. I totally gave them the choice to connect with me – I didn’t force it (I think I used the phrase “connect with me on Facebook and Twitter, at your own peril” ;) ). A few have connected with me so far. I’ve gone in, viewed their profiles, and found out information that may seem inane to some, but is actually extremely valuable, and interesting. I found out if they have kids, or dogs, or budgies. I found out what kinds of movies they like, if they are musicians, or artists, or carpenters. I learned a bit about the things they care about, and saw little snippets of how they interact with others. I associated faces (avatar photos) with names. I’ve given them the opportunity to do the same with me.

Those students I’ve connected with so far, I’m going to remember. I’m going to be able to talk with them between classes, and keep a closer eye on their progress, and on the things that may either be helping or hindering it.

Sometimes, teachers are concerned that opening oneself up via social networks breaks some sort of barrier between themselves and their students; that somehow their authority as a teacher is compromised because students know their dog’s name or where they went for dinner last night. Don’t you think we owe it to our students to be connecting with them on a more human, personal level?

Certainly, every teacher has the option to share only as much or as little personal information as they are comfortable with students, classmates, colleagues and even friends. But we have to remember that, we are all just people, with experiences, and lives, and situations, who, for just a few short weeks, will be sharing some space, and time, and knowledge with one another.

By even opening the door a just a crack wider, have an opportunity to get to know our students for who they really are, gain new insights into helping them be more  successful, and ultimately, positively impact our classroom environment.

What say you?

[photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway on Flickr]

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I was thinking back to the first time I was in college, back in 1988 (ooh. I’m really dating myself now). There were no computers in the classroom. We lugged around armloads of textbooks and binders with foolscap clicked into them. There were no text messages coming in on our mobile phones to distract us from what was happening in class (although we did pass notes). Times sure were different back then.

Ironically, I was in a technical school, taking a technical program (TV Broadcasting). So, I was surrounded by technology every day, in the form of TV cameras, video switchers, lights, editing controllers, and the like. To add insight to irony, we were using these tools to communicate messages to audiences. Our great instructors used the technology to help us learn to communicate. I guess I was lucky that way.

What the Tech? Flash forward 20 years or so, and technology isn’t just something you learn about in trade school. It’s incorporated into everything we do. Kids are growing up not knowing life without mobile devices and the Internet, and any of us who are Gen X or earlier are being forced to catch up to a world in which technology is at once ubiquitous and elusive.

As teachers, this can put us in a hairy predicament. We’re just trying to figure out how our new dumbphone* works, and our students are toting iPads and Androids in their backpacks. Yet, we’re supposed to be the experts in the classroom that have it all figured out. We’re supposed to be using the technology as proficiently and seamlessly as they are. It’s enough to make some teachers want to bury their heads in a heavy textbook and never come out.

Rocket Surgery 101. It doesn’t have to be this way. Bridging the gap between what we know as instructors and how our students are learning isn’t as scary as it seems. The problem is, there are SO many choices as to how we’re going to leverage technology in the classroom, that it’s hard to know where to begin. So, I thought it might be useful to provide a couple of tips that you can try out with your students starting right away. I want you to give it a whirl, and report back on how it works. Remember, it’s all an experiment!

Keep in mind, that these tips don’t just have to apply to education in a formal classroom environment. If you’re holding any kind of workshops or training on any level, these techniques can apply.

Virtual Office Hours
Most Learning Management Systems (LMS) have some sort of capacity for holding live chats. Some instructors use this to hold Virtual Office Hours – a set time every week where they are available online to answer questions or concerns, or discuss various topics. It works well and students like the interaction, particularly in a Distance Learning environment. I suggest taking Office Hours to a new level. Why not start off the discussion by posting a video on YouTube and sharing it with the class? You can record straight into YouTube, so you don’t need any fancy editing gear – just a microphone and a web cam. I use this to discuss current events and give reminders of assignment deadlines mostly. But we’ve all been in the situation where we get 20 emails from students asking the same question. Why not use the video to respond to everyone at once?

Once you’ve posted the video, send out the link to the class with the announcement of when your Virtual Office Hours will be taking place. They can view the video, and then show up to the chat already having some discussion points and also having any potential issues cleared up.

Then, if you want to get really fancy, you can take your chat outside of the LMS, and move to something like Skype (live audio chat, good for small groups), or Oovoo (multi-way video chat). Other tools worth looking at include TalkShoe, where you could do a live broadcast and have students “call in”, then share the show with anyone who couldn’t make it to the discussion, or even share it with other classes!

Facebook Groups
If you haven’t already created a group for your class on Facebook, do it. Let’s face it…the majority of your students are spending all their time on Facebook anyway, so why not be where the action is?

Think of a Facebook Group as an opportunity to create a living, breathing environment where the class can share links, have discussions, and comment on things. You can post photos, videos, links, and events – so there are tons of possibilities. Perhaps you want to post your Office Hours video there, instead of on YouTube? Easy peasy, and again, you can record straight from your web cam. Maybe you want to share links to recent news, or post industry events like tradeshows and conferences to the calendar.

What’s cool is, anything you post will show up in group members’ Facebook stream, so as they go about their day, they will see bits and pieces of things relevant to what they are learning. It’s a way to keep them learning even when you’re not in the classroom. And once encouraged, people love to share, so suddenly, your class is helping to create the content for your course!

The great thing about Facebook Groups, is you can make them secret. That means, the class group won’t show up in public searches, and it’s by invitation only, so you can carry on in a private manner without worrying about a bunch of non-students getting in there and cluttering things up. And if you’re worried about becoming Facebook friends with your students just so you can have them in the group, don’t. You can set individual preferences inside of Facebook so particular friends only see what you want them to see.

So there you have it. Two quick ideas that you can start to experiment with today. Try it out…and get back to me with your thoughts. I’m eager to hear your experiences! And also, if you have any of your own tips to share, please do so in the comments. Happy teaching!

*Hat tip to Jon Swanson

[photo credit: katiew on Flickr]

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