Sound, Movies & Social Media on the Web

Perhaps people will say of us in the future that we developed admirable communications systems but lacked the courage and imagination to communicate."
(Essay by Robert Fulford: A Culture of Concurrence in the 21st Century, July, 2009)

How is the Web changing?

Adding various types of media to web pages is not new. Techniques for playing sound and displaying animated presentations, photo slideshows and the like have been around since the days of the first web browsers. What is relatively new is the explosive growth in use of social media sites. Wide adoption of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, et al. by the general web population has meant that ordinary web citizens from all demographics are interacting with the internet "cloud" and connecting with each other like never before.

Work the Cloud.

Suites of free cloud applications like Google Picasa, Flickr, Google Maps, Zoho utilities and hundreds of others are now providing non-technical internet users with extraordinarily powerful tools to self-publish, network and communicate to a world-wide audience with virtually no learning barriers.

Publish Youself on the Web.

The advent of blogging software and vast usability improvements in "Content Management Systems" now puts web site creation and maintenance squarely in the hands of do-it-yourselfers. Combine a good content management system like Joomla, Drupal or WordPress with easily embedded media. Suddenly creating an extensive web presence for your business is attainable at very little cost with minimal know-how. The array of gadgets, videos, badges and plug-ins available for embedding in your web pages is growing every day. Dozens of tutorials and explanations of how to use these tools are instantly available at the click of a search button or by posing a question to a social networking group.

Embedded Media.

An Embedded YouTube Example: Michelle Todd is a friend who set up a YouTube Channel to post video highlights of some of her performances. Here she performs with Michael Hope and The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

Adaptable Online Media.

At Right is a short motion-graphics presentation created by simply uploading a few images to Animoto and letting their online generator create the animation and sound. Like most newer media generators, Animoto provides the embed code for simple cut and pasting into your web pages.

 

 

 

Don't Set and Forget.

These days it's marginally effective to put up a brochure style, standalone web site with the expectation that once launched, your job is done. Now it's all about building and maintaining your web "presence". Take the time to pursue web initiatives. Stay engaged online. Try new approaches. Solicit and listen to feedback, then make adjustments. The effort invested will pay dividends with growing online exposure for your business and increased traffic to your web site..

An Online Net Catches More Fish Than A Single Web Lure.

Create a micro-network of satellite social networking sites and media - all interlinked and feeding back to your base web site at the centre of the your online net. By doing this you can leverage the extreme power of social networking to drive traffic, eyeballs and feedback into your online parking lot. Beyond that you can use an array of freely available embedable media to create compelling, interactive content that is going to garner an ever-expanding group of viewers, followers and contacts.

Questions? Call for a free 1 hour consultation: 403-678-6224.

www.sitesatwork.com Web Design, Internet Marketing & Digital Media for Business

Email: contact@sitesatwork.com View Sample Web Sites