While the summer season is coming to a close, the video technology power players never take a vacation. This month introduced a few new competitors into the game, like LinkedIn, Amazon, and Treble.fm, while one of the biggest contenders, YouTube, got a major platform upgrade. To keep you on top of the video industry news, our Tech Roundup covers this month’s biggest stories, check it out:
LinkedIn (Finally) Supports Video Content
Better late than never, LinkedIn is officially jumping on the Video bandwagon. Announced earlier this month, LinkedIn’s 500 million users will be able to access a new video creation tool to upload and share their content with their professional networks. LinkedIn’s video tool was initially launched last month to a limited number of users for beta testing. Testing found that videos created and published were engaged with 20 times more than other content, which was the data LinkedIn was looking for to open this feature up to everyone. The idea behind this new feature is to let users create and share videos that highlight their professional content such as product demonstrations, works in-progress, or any other related video which highlights what they do.
Currently, LinkedIn’s video tool can only be accessed via its mobile application. Upon opening the app, users upload or record a video by selecting the video recording icon, located below the search bar at the top of the screen. Users can record videos up to 10 minutes in length, but LinkedIn encourages its users to limit videos between 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Once a video is published, creators will have access to audience insight analytics such as companies, titles and locations of their top viewers, in addition to how many likes, views, and comments their videos are receiving.
YouTube Gets a Facelift
It’s been 12 years since YouTube has come onto the streaming scene, and while the platform continually upgrades its technology with the times, its overall aesthetic has remained completely stagnant, until now. In its biggest redesign to date, YouTube is rolling out a cleaner, simpler, and more focused look that is built around how users watch videos. The first major change that users will notice is that YouTube is unveiling a brand new logo. The logo was designed to be more flexible across a variety of screens. It will remove the red square around the word “tube” and will instead place the iconic play button in front of the word “YouTube”. This change is reflective of the company’s shift from a singular website to a family of different applications like YouTube Kids, Red, TV, and Music.
In addition to a new logo, YouTube will be taking its desktop redesign out of beta and making it available to all of its users worldwide. By adopting the formatting standard, Material Design, YouTube will utilize grid-based layouts and responsive animations to create neat, sleek, and highly-usable interfaces. For example, on the desktop site, the white boxes on gray background will be replaced with a clean white display with new, simplified typography. The new YouTube will also feature a cinematic “dark mode” for nighttime viewing. The Mobile app will also adopt a similar, sleek look. By replacing the red top border with a white one and moving the navigation bar to the bottom of the screen, the overall focus of the app will be the video thumbnails themselves. Additionally, there will be new Library and Account tabs available for users, making it easier to find content. The app upgrade will also introduce a variety of gesture features where users can double tap to either fast-forward or rewind a video or swipe back and forth to change a video. Most importantly, the mobile app will now shift its player to match whatever size video a user is watching, even if it’s vertical.
Amazon Influencer Program Targets YouTube Stars to Drive Sales
Amazon’s Influencer Program is targeting YouTube influencers to expand its program’s reach and drive sales for different Amazon products. Initially this Spring, Amazon launched this program as a closed beta and invited a very limited number individuals to join. Now, any creator with a YouTube channel will have the opportunity to earn additional revenue by promoting Amazon products within their videos. In order to gain access to this exclusive program, creators must have a qualifying YouTube channel and fill out an application. Amazon will vet each applicant based on a variety of factors including the size of the influencer’s online following, fan engagement on their posts, quality of content, and relevancy for Amazon. Once accepted into the program, YouTube influencers will receive a customizable page on Amazon where their product recommendations are featured. Every time a customer shops on this page, the influencer will receive a cut. In addition to a custom page, influencers will also receive an associated vanity URL that is short, memorable, and easy to share on a video. The Amazon Influencer program is looking to tap into the power of video and social influencers to drive sales to its products. Currently, you must be on YouTube to sign up, but Amazon is looking to expand this program in the future to cover all social media platforms. If you are interested in signing up, fill out an application here.
Treble.fm: A New Mobile App Connecting Creators For Collaboration
The new Treble.fm mobile application uses social media to connect independent artists, music professionals, and other creatives to collaborate on different projects. Treble.fm is adopting the idea that musicians today rely on technology to create and publish their content. It is also leveraging the popularity of social networking/dating apps, like Bumble or Tinder. Upon opening the app, creators can build their profiles by selecting 3 artist “roles” like singer, songwriter, producer, drummer, etc. Users will also be prompted to connect their different social media, most importantly, their SoundCloud and YouTube profiles in addition to filling out a description describing who they are as an artist and what they are looking for in order to complete their next project. Connected socials simplify the vetting process for potential collaborators by allowing them to view your music in order to see if it’s a creative match. Once your profile is complete, users can search for potential collaborators based on their specific talent-set and general location. There is also a bulletin section where creators can directly post notices for paid and unpaid opportunities. If a user finds a project they are interested in, they have to request the other creator in order to connect and must be approved before any communication can occur. Treble.fm is free to download and is currently available in the App Store. If you are looking for more tips about collaborating, check out our blog.
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