I recently attended the New Media Summit 2010 in Sydney and found a raft of really interesting viewpoints on the ever-evolving and slowly maturing social media space. I was particularly interested in how Youtube is starting to shape up as a place for content distribution that’s cheap, engaging and highly effective at reaching large audiences.

Youtube, despite its mixed reputation for inane videos with skateboarding dogs.

However Youtube is also the second biggest search engine after Google, every minute over 24 hours of video are uploaded by millions of users around the world, that equals a 17% increase in 10 months. The rise of video content is up, and as Google makes a play for your TV the trick will be to keep up with where the audiences are.

The presentation by Google Head of Corporate Communications, Lucinda Barlow, really summed it up as a place where you can check-in to the pulse of what’s happening in the online community. Video gives users a new voice allowing virtually anyone (and any brand) to be a broadcaster – its motto after all is ‘Broadcast Yourself’.

Youtube, along with other technology platforms like Hulu and Vimeo, are changing the game around content production and distribution. Their influence is growing and popular videos on Youtube often end up as reports on traditional network news stations.

The advent of cheap cameras like the Flipcam, combined with technology platforms like Youtube, have seen barriers to entry for broadcasting torn down and replaced by a free market economy of content.

So how does Youtube fit within the social media mix of a large corporate? It’s a huge challenge to find your voice as a corporate online, some have ventured down the path and done it well.  Johnson & Johnson’s corporate Youtube channel provides relevant health information to its customers. It has had good success at drawing in people. Forming an online community around relevant content attracting thousands of subscribers and a reputation as global best practice. As our viewpoints on new media mature and the early adopter phase fades away, we are left with a fuller understanding of how all these social media properties can ideally interact.

Although I’m a novice in social media (as much as a digital native can be) I went around  (with my Flipcam) and asked some of the speakers at the New Media Summit to give me their insights into the way corporations can develop their online voice. Watch the video below and use the interactive functionality in the video to explore more content on the subject.

Leave a  comment and let us know your thoughts. What examples of corporate online have you seen, enjoyed or been frustrated with and why?

Thanks to Matthew Gain (Weber Shandwick), Brian Geisen (360 Digital Influence)  and Monty Hamilton (Ubank)for their insights.