How I Got Involved with the Rapidly Changing Clip-Culture

Lately, I’ve been waffling on my loyalty to the various video sharing sites. One day I’m watching Guba.com, the next its YouTube. Sometimes at night I sneak off to PeekVid. The relationships were starting to wear thin, until Warner Brothers stepped in on Monday and started offering movies for rent on Guba.com for $2.99. 

Video delivery and sharing seems to be rapidly evolving. In the beginning, there was Blockbuster, then NetFlix, and now Guba/YouTube. The “clip-culture” of video sharing entered a new level with the Warner Brothers announcement. Coming soon to portals everywhere, video will be available. Amazon, Yahoo, and the networks are starting to offer video online, but the startups have been leading the way. 

How I became involved with the clip-culture started by moving overseas and having no TV or radio. I started downloading PodCasts, which soon led to googling for streaming movies and video. At first, I explored the network sites, ABC and CBS, which teased me with free full-length shows, but my IP address betrayed my location. When I clicked on the new Lost episode, ABC said, “Only viewers within the United States can watch these full-length episodes,” and shunned me back to clips only. The same thing happened when I tried to watch World Cup games on ESPN and BBC. 

I admit that downloading clips from ComedyCentral.com for the Daily Show and NBC for Conan O’Brien was fun, but I found myself leaning forward too often, clicking too much, and acting like Browning’s Last Duchess – “too soon made glad / too easily impressed.” I was merely happy to have a multimedia event in my apartment, and I kept clicking, clicking, every few minutes just to watch another grainy slice of network video. 

An article in The Economist described my experience and the difference between the clip-culture and watching traditional TV. With the help of Chad Hurley, one of the founders of YouTube, the modes have been articulated: