Thoughts after attending the second annual Streamy awards for web tv/online video. (mine only, not representing YouTube)
1. Congratulations to all the nominees, winners and organizers for pulling off the event. Amazing group of creators gathered together to celebrate what is still a very new medium. There was some chuckling at the technical difficulties of the evening, but you learn and i’m sure next year will be an even better production.
2. Fine line between self-deprecation and self-abuse. Surprised at how many times folks went for the easy laugh of putting down the industry. The storylines of “slumming celebrity doing a web series” and “hot chicks get views” and “the web is a weird place” are all kinda worn out. You can take pride in yourself w/o being self-righteous. You can acknowledge some of the public perceptions without self-flagellating.
If you don’t treat yourself with respect, no one else will either. So lose the cock and balls jokes too. Here’s a rule of thumb: if a video of the event would get flagged on YouTube for nudity, graphic language, etc, it’s probably not the best way to represent an industry which is trying to gain credibility with sponsors. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Someone who stumbled upon the live stream wouldn’t have come away thinking this was the future of media.
3. There’s really a caste system already for online video? Really guys? Surprised at the extent to which these two groups slagged on each other (general stereotypes):
Vloggers: We’ve got millions of views. We love the unwashed masses. F’ the pros.
“professional” content creators: we’ve got the right type of viewers. We want to get into The Industry. Vloggers are giving us a bad name.
Um guys, you shouldn’t be dissing each other – you should be working together to define the medium, improve the craft, figure out what audiences want, etc. Even the most successful creators have only a few million fans — your issue isn’t one another, it’s the fact 99% of the world has no idea who you are. Put the energy into working together. We’re excited to have ALL of you on YouTube no matter what your backgrounds, goals or focus.
Chad Hurley’s Visionary award (and thumb)
[as i was writing this saw a post from iJustine which sums this all up even better than i could]