The massive explosion in user generated content is creating frustration for
internet users, according to a recent survey from
Kelton Research commissioned by
online video site
Weshow.
With hundreds of thousands of new videos up-loaded each day the online video
vaults are becoming overcrowded and chaotic, the research concluded.
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The survey suggests that 96 per cent of US surfers do not find the video they
are looking for in their initial search, a trend that is thought to be
replicated by searchers around the world.
Further, over 61 per cent of respondents said they felt overwhelmed by the
sheer volume of video content available, and 46 per cent of these people choose
not to watch online videos because they dread the task of trawling through the
multitude of search results.
Results showed that while a hardened internet user may persevere with the
maze of search results to find the video they require, the majority of light
users often give up their search out of frustration.
One of the major issues, aside from the sheer volume of content, is that
sites hosting these videos rely on automated computer systems to collate
content and provide search results.
This problem is lessened to some by some degree through the improved use of
tags and automated aggregator systems, but if these are not used correctly they
can sometimes make matters worse.
Ultimately it comes down to a discerning human eye to provide an element of
quality control and there are no guarantees as to the entertainment or interest
value of each video.
There is also no way of ensuring that this content is labelled correctly,
which means search engines return many irrelevant results.
WeShow reckons the only sure way of offering relevant content is to
'humanise' digital viewing by employing a group of people to source and classify
the footage it provides.
To that end it currently employs around 40 regional and international 'WeShow
Surfers' who trawl through over 20 repositories to provide video for the target
audience of each of the site's channels.
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