Comments for Is Oprah Going to Save the Internet?

Is Oprah Going to Save the Internet?

2008-03-21T20:58:18Z

Don't look now but Oprah is at the top of the iTunes podcasting chart. Her discussion series with writer Eckhart Tolle is bringing not just podcasting to her huge audience, she's doing a ten week "class" by live video with a Silverlight player and Skype discussions. It's events like this that change the technology landscape.

]]> None of the previously planned scenarios in which these technologies could have been popularized have proven so viable. Using Skype to call people selling things on eBay? Not so much. Could live coverage of the Olympics help Microsoft's Silverlight catch up with the huge installed base of Adobe Flash users? No, people in the US at least don't care that much about the Olympics. They care about Oprah.

Before readers let the snark fly, let it be said that Oprah Winfrey is a deeply serious woman. Her brilliance isn't just cynical manipulation of unthinking middle aged women. Her book club, for example, brings truly great literature to millions. Now she's helping solve the problem Microsoft faces with Silverlight in challenging the huge installed base enjoyed by Adobe's Flash.

Making History

The first two weeks have had half a million people watching simultaneously. According to digital media writer Mari Silbey, that broke the previous Live Earth record of roughly 240k simultaneous streams. Those streams were delivered by Limelight Networks and served up through the Move Networks video player. Live interaction with audiences goes on over Skype Video. All the sessions are available afterwords as podcasts on iTunes.

Just like the early adoption of RSS by the New York Times helped legitimize and distribute that technology so essential to the web today, so too will Oprah's use of podcasting, Silverlight and Skype likely be remembered as a turning point for the platforms of the future.

Comment from Vicky on 2008-03-21

2008-03-21T21:32:27Z

This is all new to me. Thank you for the information.

Comment from Fabian Schonholz on 2008-03-21

2008-03-21T21:55:50Z

For as much as I do not like MS products, I think this is a great cross-over marketing with effective use of technology to deliver a "message".

Good for Oprah that gets it.

Comment from Alex Williams on 2008-03-21

2008-03-21T22:52:30Z

Marshall - To me it seems like the day is here for large scale, extended events. I'm unclear what it means for the tech behind the events and their acceptance by society. Overall, it's obvious platforms are more accepted than before. But making Oprah the star is kind of like Al Gore beng declared the man who opened the "Internet highway." :-)

I see where you are going with this, though, and I would say that Oprah does help people get a grasp on the tech around them.

Comment from Jughead on 2008-03-21

2008-03-21T23:28:24Z

podcasting is dead? Puuuuuuuuhhhhhlllleeeeeeeeeeaaase!!!!

Comment from John Dowdell on 2008-03-21

2008-03-22T02:35:15Z

Could live coverage of the Olympics help Microsoft's Silverlight catch up with the huge installed base of Adobe Flash users?"

An audience of a quarter-million is pretty big. Even though it's for Oprah. Why, that's about half-an-hour's worth of new Player installs.

This story is more significant for its significant support issues:
http://event.oprah.com/videochannel/event/email/anewearth_webcast_20080307.html
http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901847
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/03/oprahs-first-webcast-crashes-she-apologizes.html
http://www.webinarwire.com/posts/2008/3/10/another-oprah-apology

jd/adobe

Comment from Oprah Fan on 2008-03-21

2008-03-22T05:06:13Z

There is NO SILVERLIGHT on this project.
It is Flash and MovePlayer.
Interesting article, Microsoft faces a serious uphill battle with Silverlight installs, but this does not use Silverlight at all.

Comment from Ivo Quartiroli on 2008-03-21

2008-03-22T05:33:10Z

The real news in my opinion is not on the technological level but about the content. A wise person is being seen by half million people simultaneously, a stop toward consciuosness processing forecasted by Peter Russell.

Comment from gregory on 2008-03-22

2008-03-22T12:15:59Z

there is another amazing thing about this event that all of you tech heads miss...

this is the largest dissemination of nonduality teachings ever, and in case you don't know, they are the basis of meditation, yoga, and all eastern spiritual practices

why this is germane to tech is not just the use of tech for broadcast, cool enough, but it is a step to a growth of the ability to experience consciousness, and this is the basis of more than you may imagine.... for starters tech is only the "outerworld" manifestation of what consciousness can already do

when inner and outer are converging, you can bet the shift is underway (and completely bypassing main stream media, politics, much else)

thanks for the post, gregory

Comment from Simon on 2008-03-22

2008-03-22T13:47:23Z

Exciting stuff! I see this as a key step in the evolution of the web in the larger context of society. Oprah is teaching us all how to think together, and doing it in a way that allows us to interact together.

This sort of anti-individualism powered by the internet is perhaps the only thing that can save us.

I wrote more here

Thanks again!
-s

Comment from dave on 2008-03-22

2008-03-22T17:58:33Z

Didn't the Limelight service fail dismally? BTW, they are on the verge of being sued out of existence by Akamai for ripping off their patented technology. Great planning!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080307/cm_huffpost/090386

Comment from Morgan on 2008-03-23

2008-03-23T07:12:30Z

Mmm... Anti-individualism and non-duality all in one sitting, from a 'wise' woman follower Trinity United's Marxist Black Liberation Theology? It definitely sounds mind-altering alright, but I think it'd be more direct to just go huff a truckstop toiletbowl.

Comment from Cyndy Aleo-Carreira on 2008-03-23

2008-03-23T14:37:54Z

So where is the Silverlight? There was the announcement at Mix from Move Networks that Microsoft would be working with them to enable Move to play within Silverlight, but I haven't seen anything that says that's in action, or that it's being used on the Oprah site. To go into the interactive sessions, you need to download the Move player and Skype, but I see no Silverlight app.

Comment from Carl on 2008-03-23

2008-03-23T15:32:40Z

As for the support issues... why does John Dowdell find it necessary to post the exact same thing twice about something that happened > with the first broadcast? After the first broadcast, it has been smooth sailing every week with the live broadcast every Monday night.

Kudos to the Harpo, Move, and Limelight teams.... They're taking live web broadcasting where no one (including Adobe) has taken it before...

Comment from Sean Tierney on 2008-03-25

2008-03-25T20:43:10Z

This will do for Skype and Move what American Idol did for text messaging. No amount of marketing that either company could do has the potential to generate awareness and adoption with mainstream non-technical users as this will. Very cool to see.

sean