Have you noticed it already? What is the biggest change on the internet in the last five years? If you haven't already noticed it, it is the growth of audio and video on ordinary websites.
How often recently have you browsed onto a webpage and an audio track has started instantly? Until about a year ago it required an expensive studio setup to be able to stream audio across the web. Now there are free open source programs that will let you record straight to your hard drive. The quality is good enough, without any editing, to be used online. The piece of software that is used to create the streaming audio file is inexpensive enough for anyone. In fact members of my site have access to it included in the resources section.
Video as well, is now taking the net by storm as well. Within the very near future you will begin to see the sort of "info-mercial" that currently appears on late night cable channels appearing on the web. New compression technology means that videos can be streamed within the web page, making them accessible to almost anyone with web access. At the other end of web video check out the "mobloggs" already appearing with video uploaded straight from mobile phones! Soon they will have the technology to simply download audios, or "podcasts" or even videos to their new generation players for later consumption.
Recently the increase in the use of "Screen Capture" videos to demonstrate the way to use programs on your computer, as well as dramatically reducing customer support requests, has been credited with the growth of a new type of surfer. The Non Reader.
The younger generation as a whole do not read books. Recent statistics in the UK show that over 60% of twenty year olds have not read a book in the last twelve months. 27% claim not to have even read a newspaper! American figures are probably not dissimilar. Yet most of these people are comfortable using computers, frequently for gaming. These are the people who would not read a web page. The Television generation. Yet these are the people that are surfing frequently on their mobile phones, many of which can download up to one and a half hours of video, and have built in MP3 players.
If you haven't heard of The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) you should take note. It is their strength that is driving the market. Through their work no one platform has gained the upper hand, so the speed of change is accelerating all the time, without being held back by competing standards.
Check out FoneBlog, the world's first and leading mobile blogging solution designed and built for the mobile operator with the focus to drive MMS revenue and build mobile communities. It allows users to instantly send and post content, including text, photos, audio and video from a camera phone to a personal website that can be set as a private location or shared with the world.
Imagine a generation that sets up as a matter of course personal websites running from their mobile phones. Multi media diaries that they can share with anyone or everyone. A Generation that does not read web pages. A Generation that wants to be able to watch or listen to them.
If you cannot see that embracing the use of audio and video is essential to the continued growth of your web business then you are going to be like the president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp, Ken Olsen who famously said in 1977
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
About the Author:
Graham N Barton Is a Scot who is now located in Yorkshire.
He has spent over 20 years involved in sales and marketing mainly sales training within the direct sales arena.
Why Streaming Audio And Video Is A Trend You Must Not Ignore!
