If you are serious about your business and have the desire to set in motion a few of the principals and knowledge Jeremy shares, it can make a difference in the level of success you and your organization will achieve.

One of the most noteworthy findings shows that player loads for online media properties saw a substantial increase In Q3 of 2010. A player load is a measure of graphics, data, and other components that are necessary to be rendered on a web page for a user to watch a video stream; all while monetizing this content with in-page or in-player ads. Player loads can be thought of as video metrics’ version of what a “page view” is for web page analytics across the web, and they’re vital means of obtaining data on the amount of video content that’s embedded across web properties.

Online media properties saw a 127% increase in views reaching about 1.8 billion player loads, which is second only to newspapers with 2.1 billion player loads. What’s even more fascinating about this statistic is that the online media properties was the only category that saw a steady increase in video uploads each quarter, affirming that the rise in online video and media is indeed a trend, and not a fad. This means that each consecutive quarter more and more people are using internet video to strengthen their online voice, and the rise of popularity doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon.

Other significant data from the report show that, for the first time ever, Facebook now refers more video streams than Yahoo! and accounted for 9.6% of all referrals, making it second only to Google. Check out the BrightCove and Tube Mogul Q3 2010 Report to find out more.

Denton was quoted as saying, “people don’t really want to read text, they want videos, they want images, bigger, more lavish.” He explained how text can become tedious when communicating large ideas, and people would rather receive their information from a medium more resembling magazines or television.

Denton used the example of Gizmodo’s notorious leak of the iPhone 4, which skyrocketed their traffic to four times the readers that week. “There is a huge kind of hunger for that image, for the video we produced,” Denton explained. “The core of that story was the image of the phone.” He used this instance as an argument for text being more useful when providing context and explanation for visual media, rather than acting as the primary medium itself.

Denton described Gawker’s current blog design as ludicrous, which is why their eight media properties are currently undergoing a full redesign to allow better delivery of images and video-based media.

One roadblock the Gawker staff came upon was the steep price involved with video production, which forced them to search through their video archive rather than obtaining new, up to date footage they could embed on their site.

Here at Varvid we’ve always understood the power of internet delivered video and know it’s the most effective way for a business to get noticed in the noisy online world of social media mayhem. But, like the Gawker staff, we are aware of the fact that quality video can come with an overwhelming price which leads most business owners feeling like there will be little return on their online video investment.

“There is a lot of power behind the visual presentation of information,” says Drew Graham, Varvid’s  Business Development Director. “When the viewer can hear emotion and see the body language of a presenter for themselves, it creates an advantage by connecting the two.”  Graham goes on to explain how businesses of all sizes, with proper guidance and support, can create content that engages and motivates.  “All organizations-from the service industry, to manufacturing, to retail-have a story to tell. With the options available in today’s technologically advanced marketplace, there’s no reason why internet delivered video shouldn’t be a more cost effective marketing opportunity and offer a fantastic return on investment. That’s why the Varvid team is excited we’ve found a way to make internet delivered video an affordable option for everyone.”

Armed with this knowledge, Varvid has built an army of robotic super scientists and charged them with finding a way to make internet delivered video affordable to anyone and everyone with the guts to implement the ultimate social media tool into their marketing arsenal. What clever & diabolical schemes have they drafted?  Do you have the courage to meet our challenge?  You’ll find out soon enough. Stay tuned, there’s more information coming later this week!

Traci Hahn, Varvid's new team member.

Varvid founder and partner Aaron Booker couldn’t be happier. “Not only is Traci a great fit with the Varvid team, her expertise and experience will greatly benefit the final products we present to the organizations we have the pleasure of working with, ” stated Booker. “Along with her unique, artistic style, she has the ability to bring all aspects of the project together.  Be it logistics, scheduling,  editing or post production, Traci understands how the entire production process works.  She’s a highly skilled professional and we’re fortunate to have her on staff.”

We encourage you to take a moment and welcome Traci on board.  Better yet, when you spot her at one of the many industry events in the upcoming months, say hello.

In that email, he shared an email about the “boys” that raised the flag over Iwo Jima that was forwarded on to him from Matt Makowicz of AmbitionMission.com.  I checked out on Snopes (I tend to be suspicious of all things forwarded in email) and it’s true.  http://www.snopes.com/military/sixboys.asp

I was moved by this transcription – as I think about all the sacrifices that many, many people gave for our freedom in the United States of America.  Americans gave their energy, lifeblood and their lives not only in overseas wars to protect the freedoms of others and of ours, but also in our Civil Rights Movement.  I am also thankful for those who watch out for our freedoms today, as information about all of us is tracked in federal and state databases, by credit firms, and by many different corporations and websites.  So let’s thank the Libertarians, the ACLU and the very few politicians who remember that if we stop paying attention to freedom, we’ll lose it in trade for a “secure” life.  I’ll quote one of the more famous signers of The Declaration of Independence, which after all is what the 4th of July celebrates…  “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin – 1755.  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

Here is “The Boys of Iwo Jima” – the article that touched me so much:

http://www.hearttouchers.com/iwojima

The Boys of Iwo Jima
(From the book: Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter)

by Michael T. Powers

Each year my video production company is hired to go to Washington, D.C. with the eighth grade class from Clinton, Wisconsin where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation’s capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall’s trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history — that of the six brave men raising the American flag at the top of Mount Surabachi on the Island of Iwo Jima, Japan during WW II. Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, "What’s your name and where are you guys from?

I told him that my name was Michael Powers and that we were from Clinton, Wisconsin.

"Hey, I’m a Cheesehead, too!  Come gather around Cheeseheads, and I will tell you a story." 

James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, D.C. to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good-night to his dad, who had previously passed away, but whose image is part of the statue. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, D.C. but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night. When all had gathered around he reverently began to speak. Here are his words from that night:

"My name is James Bradley and I’m from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on that statue, and I just wrote a book called Flags of Our Fathers which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me. Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game, a game called "War."  But it didn’t turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of twenty-one, died with his intestines in his hands. I don’t say that to gross you out; I say that because there are generals who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen years old.

(He pointed to the statue)

You see this next guy?  That’s Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene’s helmet off at the moment this photo was taken, and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph. A photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection, because he was scared. He was eighteen years old. Boys won the battle of Iwo Jima. Boys. Not old men.

The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the "old man" because he was so old. He was already twenty-four. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn’t say, "Let’s go kill the enemy" or "Let’s die for our country."  He knew he was talking to little boys. Instead he would say, "You do what I say, and I’ll get you home to your mothers."

The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona. Ira Hayes walked off Iwo Jima. He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, "You’re a hero."  He told reporters, "How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only twenty-seven of us walked off alive?"

So you take your class at school. 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only twenty-seven of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes died dead drunk, face down at the age of thirty-two, ten years after this picture was taken.

The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky, a fun-lovin’ hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, "Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn’t get down. Then we fed them Epson salts. Those cows crapped all night."

Yes, he was a fun-lovin’ hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of nineteen. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother’s farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. The neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Kronkite’s producers, or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say, "No, I’m sorry sir, my dad’s not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don’t know when he is coming back."

My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually he was sitting right there at the table eating his Campbell’s soup, but we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn’t want to talk to the press. You see, my dad didn’t see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, ’cause they are in a photo and a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died, and when boys died in Iwo Jima, they writhed and screamed in pain.

When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, "I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. DID NOT come back."

So that’s the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima, and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time."

Suddenly the monument wasn’t just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero in his own eyes, but a hero nonetheless.

Michael T. Powers
HeartTouchers@aol.com

Copyright © 2000 by Michael T. Powers
Write Michael and let him know your thoughts on this story!
Michael T. Powers, the founder of HeartTouchers.com and Heart4Teens.com, is the youth minister at Faith Community Church in Janesville, Wisconsin. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart Kristi and proud father of three young rambunctious boys.
He is also an author with stories in 27 inspirational books including many in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and his own entitled: Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter." To preview his book or to join the thousands of world wide readers on his inspirational e-mail list, visit: http://www.HeartTouchers.com
Most importantly, Michael believes that life is not about religion, but about a relationship — a relationship with Jesus Christ.