Web Video 2.0

Has enough time passed for the term “2.0” to gain a sort of hipster nostalgia? I hope so, because before the term was overhyped in the mid 2000s, “2.0” effectively represented the transformation of the Internet from static content to something more dynamic, social and interactive.

My observation is that the Internet is in the beginning stages of the next big “2.0” revolution, and this time it’s in the realm of web video.

Web video 1.0 was dominated by the YouTube revolution that allowed anyone to create and share video. The explosion of new video content was not unlike the dramatic expansion of web pages in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, despite the huge new volume and the easier ways of creating and sharing a video, the 1.0 video remained static, linear and non-interactive. I can change channels faster than I could do before, but the fundamental experience remained the same as my grandfather’s in the 1950s.

Now, all that is about to change with Web Video 2.0. The advancement in HTML5 now allows merging a video and web experience in order to have a video that is personalized, interactive, and even transactive. The content of the video can now be changed based on who is watching, or the viewers input. It can ask questions, collect responses and enable viewers to take action without ever leaving the video screen.

Add to this the advancement in smart phones and internet bandwidth, and you have the ideal setting for an interactive video explosion! Messages can be packed into short effective videos and users can complete registration, enrollments, quizzes, or purchases without ever leaving the mobile video screen.

The basic technology for an interactive video has been around for a couple of years; however, the tools to create interactive video have only recently become accessible to non-programmers. YouTube did not invent web video; it just made it easy.  Likewise, today’s new tools like Exaltive are making the creation of interactive videos as easy as building a PowerPoint. These user-friendly tools will definitely drive the growth of interactive videos. The best way to understand web video 2.0 is to experience it for yourself: www.exaltive.com/gallery.html.

The opportunities for this web video 2.0 revolution are limited only by the imagination of the next generation of entrepreneurs. I'm looking forward to new applications in ecommerce, enterprise, social, and things that we have not yet even imagined.

Get ready Internet; it’s all about to change… again.