The Chinese Government’s recent bizarre decision to block Youtube is further evidence of the site’s massive influence, an influence that social organizations should be tapping in to.

The ruling, which was made in order to prevent the international broadcast of protests in Tibet, will affect 210 million users in China. Yes, you read it, 210.000.000 internet users!

Youtube , created just three years ago, is already the second most visited website in the world.. It has also been found to be the site of choice for criminal bands in Mexico. Some even use their accounts to broadcast footage of kidnapped victims, which is exactly what happened in the case of Luis Fierro from Atoyac. A user from a rival gang uploaded video footage of Mr. Fierro with the intention of exhorting his family and friends to pay for his rescue. (This case confirms the rule that Innovation often starts with the illegal use of a tool )

But criminals and communist goverments are not the only ones aware of Youtube’s impact. Independent and non-traditional NGOs have quickly realised the value of this tool and are reaping the benefits of being able to reach such a wide audience, quickly, easily and completely free of charge! One of the most outstanding social sector campaign videos, Juan Mann’s “Free Hugs”, has received almost 25 million views, a figure yet to be beaten by any other non-profit.

It appears that it is the larger NGOs that are still lagging behind, unable to see the value of such an instant, massive audience and user generated content. But with Youtube.com receiving an average of 20% of all global internet visits per month , what on earth are they waiting for?

More in how to implement succesfull web TV strategies in future posts ! Stay tune..

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Creativity, Home, Management Innovation, Web TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.