David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Rocking the Small Screen: Video & Libraries

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Here’s my other presentation from Computers in Libraries 2017, focused on what libraries can do with video.

Oddly enough, I realized that I’ve been talking about making videos at Computers in Libraries for 10 years!

Why? It’s now extremely easy to make a video, and easy to watch – video is EVERYWHERE. On websites, on social media. In your Facebook feed. Trending on YouTube.

Take a peek at my presentation for starters.

Facebook VS Youtube Videos

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Over the weekend, I made this video – it’s a short video of me teaching my daughter to parallel park (fyi – she did great!).

I decided to upload it to Facebook and to YouTube, and noticed a couple of differences:

Facebook:

  • the video took MUCH longer to upload. I think that under 2 minute video took 1-2 hours to upload. I went to bed, then finished it the next morning.
  • Facebook has a built-in audience (people who friended me). So it was pretty quickly watched, liked, and commented on (388 views so far). And it’s Facbook, so comments were from librarians, college friends, my parents, and some of my daughter’s friends.
  • Didn’t have to embed it anywhere else to get views.
  • Facebook version of the video is here

YouTube:

  • Uploaded much faster than Facebook – 10-30 minutes.
  • Youtube can have a built-in audience, but not so much on my Youtube channel. As of today, the video has been viewed 22 times. Unless you are Casey Neistat or some other popular Youtuber (or have a cool, focused niche channel), you really need to share your videos elsewhere to get them watched.
  • Youtube version of the video is here.

And a reminder – Facebook’s algorithm favors native video, rather than YouTube videos. So if you are making videos for your library or organization, upload the video to BOTH places. Use the YouTube video on your website or blog, and post it to places like Twitter or LinkedIn. Use the Facebook version for Facebook.

That way, you get the best of both worlds.

Testing the RØDE smartLav+ Lavalier Microphone

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I recently purchased the RØDE smartLav+ lavalier microphone. It’s an awesome little lavalier microphone that plugs into your smartphone.

This video is my first test run using the microphone. I doctored the audio up just a bit – I used a little soft compression on the audio to even out my loud/soft/loud talking, and boosted the volume up by 6db.

But I didn’t have to cut out any hissy noises, which is pretty sweet. The only bad part of the audio is the rumble from my car – not bad at all (well, unless you are listening closely with headphones. Then it’s pretty rumbly).

I made the video with my iPhone. I need to learn how to point the video at my head!

Anyway – take a listen. As far as ease-of-use goes, this microphone is very easy to use!

Do More with YouTube and Video

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I was recently reading 5 facts about online video, for YouTube’s 10th birthday at the Pew Research Center, and found this:

YouTube is the second-largest social networking site, behind Facebook. A 2014 Pew Research Center study of online adults found that three-quarters (77%) of internet users are on Facebook, while 63% use YouTube. Although YouTube has a smaller reach than Facebook, it is more widely used than LinkedIn (25%), Google Plus (24%) and Twitter (21%).

The article also says that 72% of online adults use sites like YouTube and Vimeo. They are watching videos.

Ok then. Why are we not using YouTube more? It is more widely used that LinkedIn and Twitter combined!

So … some things you can do to start (we’re working through the same things):

  • Beef up your library’s YouTube account (or get one if you haven’t yet)
  • Do some brainstorming on content ideas – think through a mix of tutorials, training, fun, and organizational news reporting types of videos
  • Figure out who can do the work. Make a team if possible
  • Create a schedule. It doesn’t have to be every day, or even every week – but consistency is key

And the hardest one – just start already. Make sure the video is short and the audio can be heard (most important thing in a YouTube video), and post that video. Then post it to social media (think about uploading separately to Facebook) and your website.

Then rinse and repeat, and see what happens.

Six tips for better videos – a new Emerald Publishing article

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Online video is huge, and it’s not slowing down. Currently, adults spend an average of five hours a day watching video. Over an hour of that time is spent watching video on digital devices. In fact, current trends show that online video watching is steadily growing, while more traditional TV video viewing is slowly shrinking.

What does this mean for libraries? I think it means that libraries need to be making useful, usable videos for our customers. And we need some help doing that well!

So, here are six handy starter tips for cranking out better videos:

  1. Get Close
  2. Light it up
  3. Make it sound good
  4. Start strong
  5. Plan it then wing it
  6. Edit

And a bonus tip – (gotta visit Emerald Publishing to get that tip!). Enjoy!