VideoVoo: Online Video Marketing

Yes, there’s this term ‘tele-intimacy.’ And the equation goes like this:

Stephanie + Stephanie’s love + Stephanie’s professors at the UC Berkeley Center for New Media + other Bay Area-residents [sitting in the Berkeley lab] tele-cuddling with a long-distance partner + undetermined number of video smooches + free Valentine chocolates = a Berkeley experiment in online dating.
Online video dating has become quite popular and during this one hour shared session, media people want to find out more about video dating. “I remove my jeans but trip over them because I still got my shoes on, but then I turn it into a sexy dance.”

I think I have had my fair share of video dating with Attila (my husband), when he was in Cambridge University, and I can tell you video-skype-ing meant a huge difference for us: other than seeing each other’s gestures and sending kisses via macbook cameras, we were also able to have a more diversified conversation: I could show him his birthday present and a little cake with candle. Also, as there was a major political upheaval in Budapest at that time (some people striking and burning cars, smashing shopwindows, police beating, etc.), we could watch the news together (Hungarian channels were clearly not featured in Cambridge). I know it may sound silly, but watching your own national channels in another country when there is a historical moment IS important. So, yes, there was a strong intimacy, which made the lack of tactile communication even more painful and desirous. By the way, when he was in New York he was actually walking with me in the street (keeping his macbook to show things real life, including the Apple Store - that was just so incredibly good!!).

But this story (just like the Berkeley experiment) is not about first dates, instead it’s about strengthening an established relation or ‘realation.’ Here’s an excerpt from Wired:

Gerson, along with her professors at the UC Berkeley Center for New Media, is hosting a social experiment in what she calls “tele-intimacy.” Bay Area-residents with a long-distance partner can participate in the session — all they need is a web cam-enabled laptop and an hour of free time. After arriving at Gerson’s Berkeley lab, the participants will connect with their long-distance lovers via individual video conference calls. Gerson also plans to serve chocolate desserts to her volunteers to facilitate a romantic, Valentine’s Day ambiance. … “Within a minute, you know if a person is funny or not, if you two click or not, thanks to social clues like body language,” says Michael Norton, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School in an earlier Wired.com article.

If you wonder where speed dating is available online, here are a few of the online video dating sites (based on the Wired blogpost and the first 3 pages of Google search results for ‘online video dating’):
WooMe (300,000 introductions)
SpeedDate (500,000 speed dates)
Say-hey-hey (over 600 user-submitted video introduction clips)
True (no aggregate data)
MegaFriends (over 600,000 members)
VideoFriends (over 66.000 profiles)
LoopyLove (UK) (1.5 million active members)
eVideoPersonals (no aggregate data)

Looking at the search competition for the keywords related to online video dating, it seems there is a good niche in the market (photos are just not enough any more). Making more vertical video dating sites (not just geographically), especially based on hobbies, should be a major hit in the long term - e.g. as niche as extreme sports online video dating or horse/cat/dog-lovers online video dating, etc. In 2005, Taylor Cole, senior director of marketing at True.com said “online profiles with video get more hits than those without, said which launched videos last summer.” It is all the more true. And what should we say about video blogs/ vlogs, which reveal a lot lot more about a potential lover? Whoever is online video dating can expect to be tracked down on other channels too (Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Wordpress, Youtube, what have you), so keep the message integrated to avoid embarrassment.

Other online video ‘dating’ services of great interest are /could be related to real estate, jobs (especially where personality counts even more, e.g. nannies, personal trainers, teachers, guides, cooks, secretaries, etc.), accommodation (from hotels to rural tourism), collections, robots, cyborgs etc.

Finally, here’s a song of real speed dating communication from Flight of Conchords about Wednesdays, brushing teeth as foreplay, getting down to business, etc. (see the sexy dance quote above):