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Is your organization ready for the mobile video explosion?

by Mike Vallez on November 13, 2010

A recent article by GoMo News, “Mobile video use explodes for YouTube” is very telling about the increase of mobile video consumption. Even more telling is a recent article by YouTube’s own blog, “Great Scott! Over 35 Hours of Video Uploaded Every Minute to YouTube.” It is rather apparent that we are in the midst of a video content creation explosion the likes that this world has never seen. This may sound dramatic, but lets look at some of the stats these two articles present.

-75% of YouTube users say mobile is their primary way to access YouTube
-35 hours of video uploaded a minute, equates to 2,100 hours of uploaded video in an hour
-50,400 hours of video uploaded daily to YouTube
-70% use YouTube’s mobile site a least once a day

The increased mobile use and the increase in upload of video content goes hand in hand and you can see that YouTube, the worlds largest video social networking site and second largest search engine continues to grow. Some reasons for the increased upload of videos are the increase in length of uploaded videos by YouTube, the continued technological advances in mobile handsets (iPhone, Droid X, etc) and portable video devices (Flip, Kodak, etc.) as well as the increased use of YouTube’s api allowing for upload of videos from other social networking sites, video games, and other online communities. But what does this mean for corporations, law enforcement, and people in general?

One of the biggest issues that corporations, law enforcement agencies, and people are going to have to come to grips with is that video will soon be on the web as fast as Tweets. Now this is already happening to a certain extent with more tech savvy social networkers, but prepare yourself for the masses to become instant reporters of police brutality, poor product performance, failed product performance, poor service and the list goes on. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube continue to change the way people consume information, but if you notice YouTube videos are shared on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email, blogs, etc, which allows for continued growth of mobile video consumption and content creation.

Is your organization prepared to deal with the ramifications of the video world? I would like to hear from you if you are experiencing challenges from the new video age we are living in. mike@michaelvallez.com.

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law enforcement blog

Is Video Taping The Police Legal?

by Mike Vallez on November 11, 2010

Police work changed as a result of the Rodney King beating video that was recorded by bystander George Holliday on March 3, 1991. At the time mobile video recording was relatively still new. But, the recorded images of Rodney King being beaten transcended anything he did prior to the video captured beating by LAPD officers. What about now? How is video capturing effecting police work today in 2010 almost 20 years later? Here are some examples of recent news articles involving mobile video recording of law enforcement:

1) Gizmodo- Are Cameras the New Guns?

2) Cato@Libery.org- “Privacy” v. Justice: Wiretapping Case Update

3) Aolnews.- Video: Cop Socks Girl During Jaywalking Stop

With the technological metamorphous that is occurring in mobile video technology it is only a matter of time before there will be no expectation of privacy, if there is not already. Currently with my iPhone I can capture high definition (HD) video, edit it on my iPhone, and upload it to YouTube within a few minutes. Additionally, USTREAM allows for live streaming of video content from mobile devices, laptops, and desktops. But, what are the laws pertaining to uploading of mobil video content?

There is no single law that controls video recording, it is basically a state by state decision, but here is a rough explanation of video recording laws (also known as wiretapping laws) recording/wiretapping throughout the United States: Video recording is legal in public, if there is no expectation to privacy where/when the recording occurs. But, this law differs from state to state so be sure to check out The Citizen Media Project for specific laws for each state. Most of the above articles make it clear that law enforcement as well as normal citizens have little expectation to video privacy while in a public setting. What say you? How do you think mobile video capturing and uploading is going to change your life?

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The US Army Is Up Keeping Up With Social Media

by Mike Vallez on November 2, 2009

Screen shot 2009-11-02 at 6.19.51 PM

The US army with approximately 1,050,000 active duty soldiers is keeping up with social media when a lot of others are still trying to figure out what a Tweet is. The Army’s brand for their social media efforts is appropriately called Army Live. Social media/new media’s use is only limited by one’s closed mind. In this case the folks at the US Army are paying attention to the communication change that is occurring through web 2.0 and they are responding.

The US Army has no less than 18 blogs on their blog roll and they are all related to the US Army. The blogs range from specific units, the reserves, Army medical (Tricare), Army ROTC, Army Corps of engineers, etc. I will guarantee you by this time next year they will have twice as many blogs or more. But the US Army is not only blogging they are active on no less than at least 8 major social media websites to include Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to name a few. The way the US Army is leveraging social media is very customer service based. They are reaching their members through social media because that is where a lot of their members are spending time.

The use of social media by the US Army is very smart on their part. They realize by offering social media as a communication tool (not the end all be all) that they are empowering their members. How are they empowering their members? By allowing them to blog and express their feelings, their worries, their questions in an open forum. A forum where others in the US Army may also have the same issues and can commiserate with or provide advice to the blogger. The US Army has developed specific rules and procedures for the blogging process, which clearly defines right and wrong behavior while participating in Army Live. One of the biggest takeaways the US Army’s social media efforts is increased morale by their members and as the credit card commercial goes, “that is priceless.” Some takeaways by US Army personnel: a feeling that someone is listening to them (better communication), they are better informed on pertinent army issues, and they are able to keep up with their families through a single expansive US Army social media network.

The US Army is a progressive government agency, especially since their main function is protection of the United States. One would think, the US Army may not want to have a very public image displayed through social media. I think they are being realistic, but cautious. Social media/new media communication is a cultural change, which frankly not even the US Army can stop. Since they cannot stop it they are using social media as a tool to help their communication efforts. I applaud the US Army for their social media implementation and I look forward to watching how they use social media in the future.

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Broward County Sheriffs Office In The Social Media Conversation!

by Mike Vallez on August 12, 2009

Social media in law enforcement is a growing area and one I am firmly interested in. My background as a police officer and federal investigator combined with my social media passion has naturally driven me towards this social media niche. A recent article in the Tampa Tribune/Pasco Tribune had the mention of how the Pasco County Professional Firefighters’ IAFF Local 4420 was using a YouTube video in an attempt to keep their jobs. The video they were using was from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) Since social media in law enforcement is growing I decided to go to the source for this article, the BCSO website. As I checked out the BCSO website I was quite impressed with this law enforcement agencies social media presence. As you open this website you are greeted with the same YouTube video the IAFF Local 4420 has on their website.

The presence of a YouTube video on the BCSO website immediately connects visitors to the people of the BCSO and it puts the BCSO video in front of hundreds of millions of potential viewers. The benefits for a law enforcement agency to use YouTube are very interesting to say the least. Human resources, public relations, crime prevention, criminal investigation are all areas where YouTube can be leveraged to help any law enforcement agency. As I continued to search the BCSO website I found a cool social media service called “Cyber Visor” which is an innovative but common sense solution to informing business owners and residents of Broward County of crime or security issues. I signed up for this service, which, depending on your selections will send you a text message and/or email if there is a crime, security concern, etc in your selected area in Broward County. This is a simple social media solution to help keep your citizens safe in a technologically advancing society. I returned to the front page of the BCSO website and found a link to an external blog for BCSO, which has post’s on unusual incidents, big crime busts, and yes the “Police Women of Broward County” a new TLC show. The Broward County Sheriffs Office is on the cutting edge of social media amongst law enforcement agencies, but there is so much more they could be doing with social media as I have already alluded to.

bcso2

I would venture to guess that In the future you will have a social media police officer or many social media police officers that will be involved in “the conversation” it is where our society is going. Michael Vallez 08/12/09 hp5rz9ejmt

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