Yahoo Video Search

Yahoo launched a beta version of a new video search engine yesterday.

John Battelle commented today on the potential importance of Yahoo’s foray into video distribution:

Yahoo is using its power as a major distribution player to feed what it hopes will be a major play in video distribution. It may not seem like a big deal now, but as the web increasingly becomes a native environment for video, it will may well prove to be one of the most forward looking things the company has done this year.

I think this has some potential application for web evangelism, and I’d like to offer some initial thoughts.

I took a moment yesterday and today to search on some common Christian terms (christian, church, Jesus, God, etc.), just to see what would come up. I saw a few items which appeared to have a Christian theme (I did not follow the links to view the movies, though), but for the most part, there wasn’t much that seemed compelling. Part of that was because of the small amount of information about the videos which Yahoo provides in their search results. But they do show a thumbnail of each video which offers a small opportunity for the video publisher to make their video perhaps more compelling than others in the results.

When I searched on terms which I thought might be things today’s unbelievers might be entering (spirituality, meaning, loneliness), I didn’t find much of a Christian nature.

I was able to find a fair amount of Christian content when I searched on “testimony,” but then again, what unbeliever would be searching on that word?

In conjunction with the launch of this new service, Yahoo is also suggesting an optional set of metadata extensions called MediaRSS. Here is Yahoo’s description of these new extensions:

“Media RSS” is a new RSS module that supplements the enclosure capabilties of RSS 2.0. RSS enclosures are already being used to syndicate audio files and images. Media RSS extends enclosures to handle other media types, such as short films or TV, as well as provide additional metadata with the media. Media RSS enables content publishers and bloggers to syndicate multimedia content such as TV and video clips, movies, images, and audio.

This would allow video publishers (including churches which develop videos of the life stories of their members, carefully crafted to present the gospel in a tasteful, compelling manner) to have some level of control over when their videos appear in search results. Given the small amount of information (related to each video) which Yahoo is providing in the search results, I would think that being able to control the thumbnail image which appears (which is the function of one of these extensions) would allow video publishers to make their video more compelling and increase clickthrough rates, at least to some extent.

I believe that video search will become more and more important in the future, especially as broadband penetration increases. The church would do well to consider this opportunity and be prepared to offer compelling content which will intrigue unbelievers and “compel them to come in” to the community of believers to see what we’re about.

Posted by on 12/17 at 01:34 PM

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You may be interested in reading these articles which enumerate core principles of the strategy we advocate:

Effective Church Websites For Emerging Generations
Investigating the various ways in which a church's website can be targeted toward unbelievers in a church's local community.

A Strategy For Local Internet Outreach
How can the internet be used for evangelism and outreach while maintaining an environment of authentic Christian community?

Flawed Follow Up Or A Flawed Philosophy of Evangelism?
The ease with which we can “share the gospel” online can actually short-circuit the God-ordained process by which unbelievers are brought to faith.

Should We Include A Gospel Presentation On Our Websites?
Should conversion be our immediate goal in our internet evangelism efforts?

A Strategic Opportunity For The Church
A proposed strategy in which a church would use short video profiles of members of their congregation to entice unbelievers in their local area to consider the value of a local congregation’s ministry in their own lives.

2 John 12
Is there something incomplete about digital communication?

Fri, September 05, 2008 at 08:48 pm
Frank : happy that I've figured out how to import articles from four blogs into Facebook Notes simultaneously

Thu, September 04, 2008 at 09:14 am
Frank : very happy to reconnect with an old friend on Facebook!

Tue, September 02, 2008 at 10:31 am
Frank : reading a great article from flyte.biz about how microblogging is the future of communications. http://ping.fm/IT0XL

Sat, August 30, 2008 at 06:54 am
Frank : looking forward to a weekend of watching my daughter play soccer.

Thu, August 28, 2008 at 03:32 pm
Frank : reviewing SEO recommendations from our partner.

When the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association wanted to use the internet to promote their city festivals, they turned to Strategic Digital Outreach. Read more ....

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We work with several different organizations in exploring ways in which digital means can be used to reach an increasingly digital world. Some of these organizations are more traditional clients. Some are friends. All are our partners in the gospel (1 Corinthians 3:9). Invariably, we learn as much from them as they do from us. Here is a sampling:

David & Linda Arzouni
Assemblies of God missionaries to West Africa, based in Mali (the land of Timbuktu).

Assemblies of God
The Northern California and Nevada District, based in Sacramento, California.

India Prayer Drive
A 21-day prayer drive through the nation of India.

IreneDias.com
Although the suffering they face is severe, this is not a story of despair, but of an incredible faith and even more of an incredible God who sustains His followers with lavish grace, extravagant kindness, and unrelenting love.

Luis Palau Evangelistic Association
Proclaiming the Lord's Good News to the millions of people who have yet to respond to the Gospel.

Sacred Ink
Joyfully declaring the gospel to the tattoo subculture.

Santa Cruz Bible Church
Their evangelism department focuses on marketplace ministries.

ShareFest Santa Cruz County
Churches in Santa Cruz County, California join together to become a bridge from the church to the community through work projects designed to bless the community.

TimeOut Conference
Enabling a deeper relationship with God and more effective relationships with people.

Wake Up! Santa Cruz
Presenting the claims of Christ to the business community in Santa Cruz, California.

These are projects which we have initiated (either individually or as members of a team) in our efforts to use digital means to spread the gospel:

MissionEquip
MissionEquip.com was established to provide resources to missionaries and short-term missions teams traveling worldwide.

ChristianCruz
ChristianCruz.com is a localized portal for believers living in Santa Cruz County, California.

Prodigal God
ProdigalGod.com, a work in progress, is designed to provide biblical instruction to the wider body of Christ through the use of video teaching segments and written articles.

Christian Screen Savers
ChristianScreenSavers.com offers a selection of high-quality, inexpensive Christian screen savers which reflect biblical themes. Proceeds from the sale of these screen savers are used to support the work of Strategic Digital Outreach.

Blogs I Read

Adventures Of A Web Evangelist
The Appian Way
BetaChurch.org
BlogMinistry
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Boyink Interactive
Carpe' Digital
Christian Web Trends
Church Beauty
Church Communications Pro
Church Marketing Sucks
ChurchTechToday
Church Website & Blog Ideas
digital.leadnet.org
Digital Ministry
The Digital Sanctuary
e-vangelism.com
Effective Church Web Sites
Effective Web Ministry Notes
Equip Blog
Evotional
GodBit
Goodmanson
Gospelcon
Heal Your Church Website
If Jesus Had A Website
Leave It Behind
MicroExplosion
Outside The Box Ministry
Sacred Digital
So You Want A Church Website?
The Ultimate Issue
Web Evangelism Issues

Yahoo Video Search

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