More on i-caught

I mentioned i-caught last week, and have since been enjoying the site so much I thought I'd talk some more about. i-caught is a product of ABC News, and it collects video segments that have been caught by regular folks and posted online. I know, I know, lots of the big news and media properties are doing this. What sets i-caught apart are both the depth of content and the design of the site itself.

Organizationally, i-Caught divides submissions into a number of categories that make the content easier to navigate:

news
weather
out of control
red-handed
entertainment
fun
politics
animals
flashback

It further offers categories of the most watched, most favorited, and newest. Again, I know this isn't rocket science, but the layout of the pages and the browsing interfaces are really rather well designed and create that sort of entangling "keep on clicking" feeling that Yahoo's OMG started. But in my view i-caught works a lot better than OMG.

I will also confess that I was always a little skeptical of the whole idea of citizen created videos in news, not withstanding the fact that for example, the vids of 9-11 were mostly amateur. But I am coming around to this. In comparison to the professional videos that pass for news these days, amateur flicks hold up well. Will the new Woodward and Bernsteins get started via UGC? They have to get started somehow, and the networks don't seem to be doing the investigative thing much anymore. Much easier and cheaper to be spoon fed by PR firms and pressers.

Like all UGC environments, there is a mix of genuine consumer stuff as well as semi pro by would be newscasters and the like.

Here's some CGM from the South Korea Beef Riots:



Besides the unfortunate reflecto logo, i-caught offers a great visual experience. My only complaint is that ABC needs to be cognizant that a :30 preroll is a bit excessive on an :08 vid of anything, even if they only come once every three or four clicks. I will say, though, that the TV ads I suffered through were better than the average :30s on TV, which makes me think ABC helps its clients make better content for the web. But I was probably just lucky on the days I went.

So check out i-caught and tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

New UGC Contest from ABC/GMA

Those who know me know I like sweet. ABC's Good Morning America just launched a video contest that is delightfully on brand.

Entitled I say GMA and available here, the contest holds the promise of pure syrup schmaltz and I cannot wait! Here's some tease to make your teeth hurt...




All this is taking place on the iCaught.com subsite of ABC. What is iCaught? Glad you asked (from the site):

What is i-CAUGHT? Well - we all know there's a video revolution swirling around us all - 24/7. Ask yourself... how many times were you caught on surveillance video today? Did you - like more than 100,000 other people - upload a video onto the Internet? Did you go online like millions of others and watch a video?

We're ALL a part of this new video revolution.

But it's more than just entertainment. Every one of these videos has a story behind it. Who made it? What was going on behind the scenes? What came after it? And how much can we really believe what we see?

An awful lot of it is also news. The politician caught on an open mic. The policeman caught doing the heroic - or the opposite. The patrol on the streets of Baghdad. Or the moment when Mother Nature wreaks havoc on the ususpecting. We're watching - literally - as every single person with a video camera can gather news for all the rest of us.

We call this new television and Internet experience i-CAUGHT. Because that's how so many people feel these days. Everywhere you look - cameras - catching everything: breaking news... making headlines... turning unknowns into celebrities... turning others into laughing stocks...

And for all the world to see - in an instant. It's video at the speed of life.

Every week, i-CAUGHT brings you the real stories - reporting on the real people - behind the videos that millions of us watch and share everyday. .

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.