YouTube Cameras from Casio and Sony

Posted by geoff on July 25, 2007 at 8:59 PM

New camcorders from Casio and Sony, due out in August and September respectively, are coming out with a decidedly YouTube-focused design.

This is interesting on two fronts; namely, it shows the growing influence social media is having on the public at large, and it serves as a reminder that social media continues to present advantageous business opportunities for companies willing to embrace this inevitability.

Both camcorders feature USB design for instant transfer to computers. The Casio YouTube camera has the USB connector built right into the camera, however, eliminating the need to carry a USB cable as well. It would seem that wireless functionality, allowing instant shoot-and-upload capability from anywhere users can get a Wi-Fi signal, would also be a useful feature. Perhaps they are saving that for YouTube Cameras 2.0!

Both cameras are set to retail in the $200-300 range, assuring they will disseminate into the mainstream pretty quickly. Why should this matter to your company, though? Well, ask jetBlue. They found out very quickly, when a few flights were grounded for extensive periods of time, how a handful of people with cameras and access to social media sites could wreak havoc on their brand reputation.

On a more positive note, companies can use these new YouTube cameras to do their own positive video PR. From posting videos of community service engagements, leaking footage of products in development, or simply creating vlogs to just say hello and stay in touch.

This brings me to another interesting point. Seeing as these are YouTube cameras, I thought for sure I'd have some nifty YouTube videos from Casio or Sony to embed in this post. Oddly enough, there weren't any on YouTube. Furthermore, there weren't any videos of these cameras or camera footage at Casio or Sony's websites, either. Seems like the marketing department is a few steps behind product development at both companies.

Still, there was a video review of the Casio Pure Digital camera that was worth sharing.

People like videos. Google Universal Search likes it, too. That means your company should start creating a plan to make videos a part of your online presence sooner, rather than later.