The Power of Communities for Online Video
Written By: Luke Davies, President, LeanIn
The intelligence of communities is pretty amazing. People are smart. A group of people is even smarter – much smarter about certain things than any computer or artificial intelligence.
Video content distributors that harness the “collective wisdom” of communities can see a number of benefits. But first, they need to understand what has driven these communities to develop.
Let’s go back and take a look at some of the first communities built around media: the social experiences created by television. Think back to that stereotypical 1950s family all gathered around the black and white television in the family living room. Then there are all of the discussions that happen at the office water cooler, where coworkers go over what happened on their favorite sitcoms or reality shows. Consider all of the relationships between people that are based on a common interest in a program or programs. People naturally want to share, talk about, and socialize around TV and video.
As more TV and video consumption happens online, it has become harder to share the simultaneous viewing experience with friends, peers, and community. The desire is still there, but the tools are missing.
Some people and communities have resorted to using Twitter as their medium for sharing TV and video preferences. If all the community members are viewing at the same time this can be an effective solution. The beauty of Twitter is that it’s great for capturing people’s thoughts as they happen. Thus, it works really well for live shows that are being viewed through traditional TV channels in real time.
However, people and communities time-shift and consume TV around their own schedules. Because Twitter is linear (unlike TV and other video content), it’s not always the best medium for interacting with others and sharing viewing experiences and preferences.
For example, if I’m viewing the Academy Awards live, there will be a flurry of tweets discussing all of the feelings and emotions of all of the other viewers and all the members of my online community. However, if I had to work late and watched a recorded version of the Oscars, I’d have no online community to share my experience with.
Communities need a solution that enables them to interact and share TV and video experiences, and to do it whenever they want.
Video content owners and distributors that bring these two mediums together will have a huge advantage. If content owners could bring these interactions inside the player, their audience could interact with their content right where they view it on-screen. Viewers and communities would no longer have to have multiple applications and screens open to effectively interact with their programming.
LeanIn is the world’s first solution that enables viewers to interact inside a video player. Our overlay technology allows viewers to comment, bookmark, share, and search. It all happens inside thePlatform video player. To see how it works, visit our LeanIn Partner page.
Luke Davies is the President of LeanIn, Inc.
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