The Great Big Live Video Trap…and Snapchat Might Run the Table

I love the idea of Live Video and Web Video.

I have been plugging it passionately it here since I started doing Wallstrip back in 2006.

When Facebook launched live video I wrote about it and I think they have the best chance to make a dent in the amount of time spent on YouTube. They basically destroyed Periscope in one swoop and I just deleted the app from my phone. In the end, the Tweet is just enough. I was wrong about Twitter and Persicope live video and it cost me some bucks. I think it’s more a Twitter thing than a Periscope thing. Of course my death call could be premature as bandwith gets better and maybe Twitter distribution and curation improves.

Bessemer Ventures is out with a piece called video is eating the internet. They are no slouches when it comes to investing but they are also prepared to lose their asses. If you read the fine print though, you see how they really think you can make money…live verticals, consumer tools and curators. That is really important because just making video won’t cut it.

Today, I am pretty convinced that making video is a suckers game and a trap. Of course there will be better video than ever and many hundreds of companies/people will make money. Verizon, ATT Yahoo and big media will pay for content to put on their apps that nobody watches.

BUT….Facebook video will only amplify the problems of the past in web video. That is:

1. If you are going to make video…make it because you love making video and you have a passion that you know other people will pay for the content and your unique voice and or curation. Keep it lean (meaning one man band).

2. Make it because you believe in the ‘greater fool’s theory and you can raise money or hack traffic on existing networks long enough for an incumbent that has hired someone that does not know anything about paying for content, pays up for your content. This is a game that gets more dangerous every day.

3. If you don’t pick 1 or 2 and you want to make video…just use Snapchat.