Video marketing has become an industry buzzword – videos in social media are commonplace. Facebook recently released statistics — videos tend to get more engagement than other types of content. No surprise there – they are sooo entertaining.
And who hasn’t gotten an email with one of those GIF’s? (okay, I had to look up the correct word – it is a computer file format for the compression and storage of an image or video – you know, those annoying little video clips in the middle of an email that are a never-ending loops of images or videos – they keep repeating a 2-4 second action like a person yelling ‘oh, no’, etc.) NOPE – not putting one here as an example because they drive me crazy.
Let’s face it – videos are incredibly versatile and commonplace these days — even this grandma can take a video on her phone!!
For some time now, videos have been heralded as the next greatest thing…and it was thought that the video format may replace still photography.
Thanks to a gift of a movie camera back in the 70’s, I actually captured several super 8 movies during the early years of my boys’ lives. Still remember hauling out the projector and screen and watching those (silent) movies in small reels that kept you changing them out every few minutes. And the quality? Well….not so much.
For whatever reason (LIFE? Divorce? Law School?), I didn’t keep up with movie taking during their later years. And unfortunately, I did not supplement with any other moving photography method.
So, years later, after they were grown – I discovered the super 8 film reels and decided to have them spliced into one reel. Big timesaver. And later, I had them transferred to the “newer” format – VHS! Woo-hoo.
Ooops, time passed and VHS projectors/players were no longer used. So – transferred the VHS to DVD’s. And that is where they reside today.
Okay – it was a boatload of fun when these “re-appeared” in our lives since the boys were grown and we could all laugh and reminisce. Oh, how I wish I had their voices along with the movie – but, hey, never had movies of my childhood or my parents and grandparents other than a few cameo appearances in these super 8’s. So, I am grateful for what I have.
Found a 2013 report that said to that date, personal video hadn’t exploded the way photos had. But, even in 2013, it was recognized that, like photos, personal video had the potential to break out from its role as a storehouse for memories of life’s key moments and become an integral part of consumers’ real-time social-sharing habits.
NO LIE! Now, all major social networks (from Facebook to Snapchat and anything in between) have now embraced video in a big way. Supported and promoted by brands and individuals through eye-catching video clips, they caught on – TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users as of January, 2022 with their easy to (re)create music video app. And the list goes on.
It is easy to understand why – marketers can convey more information in less time via videos. And who hasn’t been thrilled to actually “watch” someone do what they are teaching and explaining in a real-time video demo?
Suite 48 Analytics (who pay attention to this sort of thing) found that the median number of smartphone photos taken per month is 25 vs. 4 for videos. This means that half of the respondents take fewer than 4 videos; the other half take more than 4 videos, compared to 25 for photos.
Yes – all things being equal, a single video could contain multiple share-worthy moments, which would require numerous separate shots to capture as photos instead. Suite 48 added another interesting piece – their respondents were 18 years or older. Had they included teenagers or tweens, they said the number of videos captured might be higher. I would totally expect it would.
They asked the question – “While video is not yet a dominant capture format, is it catching up with photos?” Their survey indicated that is NOT the case. In fact, the numbers show the trend is in the opposite direction: photos are MORE on the rise than videos.
Now hold on to your hats — this is NOT because taking videos is decreasing – no, it is on the rise compared to a year ago.
For now at least, you can see this trend – no one is stopping photo-taking but instead photos AND videos are on the rise. Who knows what will happen when the teens, tweens and even younger kiddos come along which direction things will go.
But let’s address the BIG QUESTION these analytics did not address. The one I ran into as I found those Super 8 movies and scrambled through the whole basement hoping I had not deep-sixed the projector and it was still working. OK, it was very soon that I had them transferred to a reel – and not long after that, paid someone to transfer that to the VHS (and later to the DVD).
I am old enough to remember my first secretarial job using reel to reel tapes for my boss’ dictation — and only some of the typewriters were electric – most were manual. Then came the MagCards by IBM in 1969 (yes, I used one of these where magnetic cards were slipped into a box attached to the typewriter and text recorded on them, one page at a time), then on to the “word processor” which used tape cassettes for storage. Oh yes, then the floppy disk evolution of storage media all the way up to our present-day computers storing in the “cloud”. Whew! The changes — they are making me dizzy.
Does this make you think of your computers? And the managing of old “hard drives” which still had some pictures on them you didn’t want to lose? And I think of a friend who told me she had a few laptops she is not using regularly since they are so slow but she won’t get rid of them because of all the pictures and videos they are holding !
“Oh, my, Houston, we have a problem!” — but don’t despair. In my later years, I have found my solution to the “how will I keep up with the ever-changing versions” question. And the dilemma of where is all that stored during fire or flood season and how were they handled during moves?
I wanted a “forever” and easy solution – and I found it. Strangely enough, the company is called FOREVER®.
I had heard of them, but only in one aspect. Through my years of photo hobby work with Creative memories, I fell in love with two digital programs – one for storage and management (yes, of videos also) and one for creating digital photobooks. The two guys who created them left Creative Memories and their programs were picked up by FOREVER.
So I began to work with them (FOREVER.com) primarily to use and update those two programs. I was doing more and more digital and online work, but I still would hold on to lots of my genealogy original photos and documents as well as my treasured photos (family, etc.). And worry about the future.
OK, OK, I am slow to make changes sometimes, too. I’ll admit. So, when I started working on my online course “Do a Life-Story Album in 3 Easy Steps”, I had to figure out how to make it easy for folks new to digital photobooks and not let that be a barrier.
So I dove in to join many of my friends already using FOREVER (and leaned on them heavily to quickly get up to speed on it all). I was amazed to find everything I wanted (and some I didn’t KNOW yet that I wanted) there – here’s the shorthand list:
- My 2 favorite software programs, updated & improved (organize/manage photos + create digital albums) plus all the digital art etc. to go with
- Online systems (pre-designed books & auto books) which don’t require software and make album creation easy for newbies (hurray!)
- Free sign-up for an account giving 2 GB storage for photos plus a $20 coupon to spend as you please.
- With the 2 GB storage comes an online library and an organizing system that is unparalleled in arranging, fixing photos, attaching metadata, and sorting/grouping photos for easy access as well as transfer to the album-creation systems.
- Free mobile app allowing you access & organizing ability from anywhere (including phone) – plus auto-upload from phone if you wish (see my blog on this HERE)
And now, the drum roll, please…..
- This is what’s unique – it is a photo & video storage service that you buy once and own for generations – no hidden fees or recurring costs. I AM NOT kidding – they have a Guarantee ensuring (via funded systems) your photos & videos last at least your lifetime plus 100 years. Over that time they update the file formats so they’re never obsolete.
- And it is private, no data mining or advertising. It’s YOUR content and you retain all rights.
- Full-resolution, no compression
- Designate an “account manager” (probably a younger family member) on your account so they can seamlessly continue and add to the preservation of the photos, videos, audios and documents you placed in storage there.
- Share any and all photos & items that you choose whenever you choose.
- Stop worrying about fire, flood and such destruction because your selected precious memories are in the cloud with redundant safeties built into the FOREVER system.
- Oh, and those physical items you need to turn into digital – they have boxes you can fill with old VHS, reels, cassettes, scrapbooks – whatever – and they digitize them putting them right into your account (or a drive, but frankly you have to then manage that!)
OK, yes, I keep the originals of selected precious memories and am cognizant of preservation of them within my home. But, just as I felt when I sent my siblings digital copies of the multiple albums my mother created at the end of her life, relief is present in knowing that if disaster did strike and originals were destroyed, at least copies existed and were in various locations.
So I have waxed on long enough –let me zip back to videos. When you buy Forever permanent storage, your videos are included in that, but I have been learning that your videos can also be added to your digital books !! Using a QR code, you can add a clip of the wedding to your digital wedding album, etc.
Knowing how video usage is growing means we need to be savvy about what to do with the ones we treasure. Intrigued? Have questions? Jump on a brief call with me to find out more or get your questions answered – HERE.
Or, if you are ready to check out FOREVER, click HERE.
