Sure we live in a mash up society. It’s acceptable to bootstrap. It’s OK to learn on the job in the digital arena. What’s not acceptable is to get worse. To not reach previously set quality benchmarks. In any business, no less your start up. All of the self made youtube stars invest time in the final production of their content. People expect a higher level of quality these days especially if we want to gather long term fans and loyal viewers. Production values matter. What was acceptable in 2004 in not acceptable in 2009.

The first thing you notice in the video output of these highly subscribed Youtubers is production quality: Hotforwords,  Community Channel, Kev Jumba, Happy Slip, Fred and others.

So when Miley Cyrus throws together a home made video of her leaving twitter seen below, we realize how much value her producers add to her usual output – seen underneath.

Home made Miley

Produced Miley

I myself, need to improve the videos I make for rentoid.com. So I’ve recently been investing a lot of time learning how to use iMovie editing software.

The lesson for startups is to invest in our digital output. A little more effort in production can be the difference between gathering customers and looking like an amateur.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltnhCW74XqE[/youtube]

The first author that Predicto TV interviews is Marina Orlova, one the biggest stars on YouTube. The Russian philology expert knows everything about words and their meaning, and puts it all into a new book called Hot For Words, out now from HarperCollins. We met Marina before a jam-packed book signing in Manhattan, where she met her loyal “students” in person. Marina knows the etymology of words, but what about Predicto questions? When asked who will have more users by the end of the year, MySpace or Facebook, she said, “Twitter. I think Twitter will beat everyone else.” (In voting by almost 3,000 Predicto users, Facebook beat MySpace, 56% to 44%). To find out how Marina answers our Predicto questions, watch Episode 37 of Predicto TV now!

Quién dijo que los nerds no pueden ser sexys? Esta señorita da clases de filología inglesa en su canal de You Tube… y se desenvuelve muuuy bien.

En el video explica el origen de la palabra antidisestablishmentarianism :

El video en YouTube.

Monica Hesse of The Washington Post has gleaned some advice from authors of forthcoming books on Twitter how to get the best out of 140 characters allowed in each Tweet:

# Make It Participatory: Use discussion and self-reflecting, philosophical questions, rather than simple questions like “What are you doing?”

# Make it Art: Each Tweet should contain personality, creating a Twitter persona that people want to follow.

# Make It Universal: Avoid using Tweets with specific contexts, because they will be vague to users who do not have personal knowledge about you.

Link via Knight Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Whilst trawling the web, I came across a neat parody of a Justin Timberlake song. Two things make it particularly worth watching; the first is that it makes fun of the the bad grammar found in songs -including those of the said Mr. Timberlake; and it features the linguists’ pin-up grrl, Marina Orlova or, as she is commonly known, Hot For Words. Marina’s site is the best excuse ever for stuffy old language pedants to ogle a very attractive blonde. Shamelessly sexist I know, but then I make no apologies for being a regular who find women attractive. And Ms. Orlova is no exception.

So sit back and click this video., and then the guys can stop over at Marina’s site, Hot For Words, and add it as a bookmark. Or as a podcast

A filologia sempre foi uma ciência um tanto quanto dicriminada. Ao lembrar-nos de Antônio Houaiss e associa-lo com um dicionário, a palavra “filólogo” por si já fica automaticamente chata, ou intelectual demais, ou acadêmica.

Não mais.

O Youtube possui um canal que recebe o singelo nome de “Hot For Words”. Apresentado por Marina Orlova, uma filóloga um tanto quanto diferente das demais, periodicamente vídeos são inseridos no site, onde Marina responde à duvidas sobre a origem de qualquer palavra na língua inglesa. Contando com uma edição relativamente caprichada (caseira?), o canal é um dos mais vistos no Youtube, ficando ao lado do canal do Universal Group e da NBA.

Marina, por sua vez, além de dona do “Hot For Words”,  é graduada em filologia pela Universidade Federal de Nizhni Novgorod, na Rússia, e ex-professora de inglês de nível secundário. Especializada em etimologia, a “filóloga mais sexy da internet” segundo a revista New Yorker, aparenta através dos vídeos, ser um amor de pessoa – além de ser um mulherão.

Segue um dos vídeos do HotForWords. Neste, Marina desvenda a etimologia da palavra “pot” (uma maneira popular de denominar maconha, em inglês).

Boa aula!

I have to share a guilty pleasure. I’ve been secretly visiting this bizarre blog in recent months: HotForWords.

"Must investigate!"

On the one hand, it makes me think the world is really headed toward the vision of “Idocracy.” On the other, I love etymology and generally learn something from these videos. Plus, I like her, despite myself. Enjoy . . .